Red Hands, Bleeding Heart
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: I knelt down and pulled out a bloodied linoleum knife. I twisted it around, narrowing my eyes to see if I could spot prints on it, but I didn't get the chance to as the door was slammed open and police stormed in with guns aimed directly at me. "Put the weapon down and get on the ground! Hands on your head!" I raised my hands slowly. "This isn't what it looks like."
1. Chapter 1

**Curious what Jane would do with a Forensic Anthropologist on the scene who wouldn't fall for his psychic tricks and charms... maybe.**

* * *

I sighed, knocking on the door and wishing I could be doing anything else but standing here.

"Hello? Dr. Martin?"

He didn't answer, so I tried the door and wasn't surprised to find it unlocked. He often left it that way under the claims that he lived in a peaceful neighborhood and was fine with leaving it unlocked as long as he was inside. _And I've told him he was nuts. We live in Sacramento and just like any other city anywhere, there are people who will take advantage of that sort of thing. Not that he listens._ I rolled my eyes and shut the door behind me, walking through the small entryway and peeking into the living room.

"Dr. Martin?"

He wasn't in there either and I scratched the back of my head. _Where the heck is he? He told me to be here for something important. He wouldn't just bail... unless..._ Worry gnawed at my stomach and I began to search a little faster, ducking into the kitchen and the den without any sight of the man.

"Come on, Dr. Martin! This isn't funny!" I called out, growing frantic as I unconsciously twisted the wedding ring on my finger; bad memories floating to the surface of my mind.

 _He had to of called me here because he knows I work with the police and probably assumed I could help him with something. That's why he didn't tell me over the phone. God! How stupid could I be?! He's probably in trouble because I assumed this would be a regular visit!_

"Doctor! Doctor, where are you?!" I asked, moving up the stairs now that I'd cleared the first floor.

I debated on whether or not to call the police, but I didn't hear anything suspicious just yet and I wanted to at least find some trace of the doctor before I jumped to conclusions. For all I know, he stepped out to the convenience store for something and just wasn't home yet. _Though the chances of that are slim, I can't go about calling police when I don't know there's anything wrong yet._ I argued with myself, knowing how much of a pain it was for the officers I'd heard complaining while I was down in the lab.

"Come on, come on." I muttered, checking a bathroom and the guest bedroom, before coming upon the last door; his bedroom.

I hesitated before opening it though, bracing myself. I didn't know what I was going to find in there, if I found anything. There was still a chance that he was fine and I was overreacting. But flashes from my previous trauma haunted me, making the scene in front of me distort to a different door in a different house; _my_ house. I sucked in a breath suddenly, not realizing when I'd begun to hold it, and tried to calm myself down. Now was not the time to be having a panic attack. I'd worked past this a long while ago and I wasn't about to let it get to me now. Scenes like the one I'd experienced before were no problem in my work. So I needed to keep a level head. To help Dr. Martin, I needed to stay calm. I took a deep breath and let it out, quietly counting to three under my breath like I'd been taught and relaxing my shoulders, before I pushed open the door and looked inside.

The world seemed to pause for a moment as I caught sight of the body lying prone on the bed. Dr. Martin lay there, stomach bleeding and a pool of blood already soaking into the sheets on the bed. He'd been stabbed and his throat slit. But that wasn't what had my attention. A large happy face was drawn in blood on the wall above him; the first thing someone would see when they walked into the room. I would've focused on it more, but the flashbacks of my own trauma were trying to take over and I needed to shove them aside. I needed to figure out what happened. If Martin was already dead or if every second I stood here staring, could be his last. So I quickly moved over towards the bed, being careful not to touch anything as I pulled on a set of rubber gloves I always kept on me.

I reached over the side of the bed and pressed my index and middle finger to his neck, but I couldn't find a pulse and my heart ached for the man who'd been helping me through my trauma for so long. I noticed something glint then, tucked just under the bed and I glanced briefly at Dr. Martin before I knelt down and pulled out a bloodied linoleum knife. I twisted it around, narrowing my eyes to see if I could spot prints on it, but I didn't get the chance to as the door was slammed open and police stormed in with guns aimed directly at me.

"Put the weapon down and get on the ground! Hands on your head!"

I raised my hands slowly, the knife held between my index finger and thumb as I looked at the men. "This isn't what it looks like."

* * *

Jane and Lisbon showed up on the scene of what they were told was a Red John case, and they quickly got out of the car and headed towards the house as a police officer joined them.

"Ah, you're with the CBI, right? Thanks, but I think we've got it here."

"Yeah, I'm Agent Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane. We were called in because you guys have a case that's related to our investigation of Red John, and it's mandatory for us to get in and confirm that it's actually him." Lisbon explained with a forced smile on her face. "It wouldn't be the first time we've had copycats, Sergeant..."

"Donovan, sir." He said, holding out a hand that she shook as he led them further into the house. "And that's exactly what I mean. We've already caught the culprit red handed and it's a woman, so it's gotta be a copycat, right?"

Lisbon gave him a surprised look. "You've caught someone?"

He nodded, leading them up the stairs now. "Yeah. We got a call from some neighbors of seeing someone break into the home. We showed up, headed upstairs, and found her standing there with a knife and gloves on; the guy dead on the bed. Open shut case."

He led them to the end of the hall where the door was and opened it, revealing the smiley face on the wall and allowing Jane and her to enter and look around.

"Who's the victim?" Lisbon asked, curious.

"A, uh..." Donovan looked through his notes, before finding what he was looking for. "...Dr. Timothy Martin. A therapist and psychiatrist by trade. Well-liked in the neighborhood, never had any issues with clients according to the neighbors next door."

"Neighbors?" Lisbon said in confusion.

He nodded. "Yeah. Guy liked to do business at home with his more private clients. Though he's got an office nearby."

"And the culprit?"

"Says her name's Dani Michaels. She won't tell us anything else."

"Well that's no help." Lisbon grumbled, but Jane spoke up then, bringing their attention to him.

"It's not her."

"What?" Lisbon questioned as Donovan did the same.

"What do you mean, 'it's not her'? We caught her, standing over the body, with the murder weapon!"

"Well, you made a mistake. This is Red John." Jane said, leaving the room and rushing down the stairs before they knew what was going on.

Lisbon, quickly followed. "Jane! Jane!"

He ignored her and continued until he suddenly stopped and turned back, marching up to the Sergeant and pointing over his shoulder.

"That woman. What did you say her name was?"

"U-Uh, Dani. Dani Michaels."

"Right, yes. Send her to the CBI at once. I need to interview her."

The Sergeant appeared baffled, but soon nodded and Lisbon had to chase after Jane as he got into the passenger side of her car. Once she climbed in after him and started driving them back to the CBI Headquarters, she began to ask questions.

"Okay, so what's going on?"

"Hm? The case. It's Red John. He did it." Jane answers bluntly.

"Bu they caught someone red handed!"

"Meh." Jane said, shrugging. "Wrong place wrong time, is my guess. She didn't do it."

"Then why do we even need to talk to her?"

Jane turned to her. "Think, Lisbon. What did the Sergeant say about her that was odd?"

She furrowed her brows in thought. "I don't know. She had the murder weapon?"

"Right." He said, pointing at her. "But what else?"

"...She... had gloves on."

Jane snapped his fingers. "Bingo! What person has gloves on in this weather? Not only that, but he didn't mention what kind of gloves. Rubber gloves, leather gloves, wool, cotton. Could be anything, but the question is, who walks into a home, sees a dead body and instead of calling the police, puts on gloves and picks up the murder weapon?"

"The dumb kind?"

Jane smiled a bit. "No. The kind who are used to it."

Lisbon frowned. "So we're dealing with another murderer?"

"Possibly." Jane answered. "But maybe not. Either way, she's definitely interesting."

* * *

I sighed again, head bowed as I sat behind a table with my hands cuffed in front of me. I fingered the gold wedding band on my left ring finger idly, hardly knowing I was doing it as I tried to push away the flashbacks to the back of my mind. I knew I needed to focus, especially since I was apparently the prime suspect for Dr. Martin's death. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. Good job, Dani. Not only did you not call the cops, but you decided that picking up the murder weapon out of curiosity would be a good idea. Of_ course _you're going to be their prime suspect! They're probably already writing up the paperwork for the court case. 'Crazy Forensic Worker Kills Psychiatrist'._ I groaned, dropping my forehead onto the table with a 'thunk'.

"I'm _doomed_."

"Not quite."

My head snapped up to see a curly blonde haired man walk into the room along with another young woman with dark hair; both of which took a seat at the table. The man passed me a cup and saucer and I gave it a look.

"Tea." He responded. "Calms the nerves."

I nodded and picked the cup up, enjoying the quick calming sensation that went through my body at the taste of it.

"Dani Michaels, is that right?" The woman asked and I nodded, setting the cup down.

"Yeah. That's me."

"I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane." She introduced herself and the man beside her, who gave me a little wave; that I returned. "You do know that you're the prime suspect in the murder of Dr. Martin, yes?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"You're not denying it?" Jane asked and I shrugged, picking up the tea again.

"Why should I? I know the way it looks. Whether I did it or not, things aren't exactly in my favor right now. The police like to stick to what they're shown, even if the truth is anything but what the evidence shows them."

"Hm, true. Very true." Jane said with a nod. "Though we know you didn't do it."

I gave him a glance, cautious. "Well, that's good. Glad someone believes so, even if you're just a consultant."

He immediately put his tea down, eyes narrowed. "How did you know I was a consultant? I never told you."

"Not that hard to figure out. You're with the police, but don't have a gun or a shiny gold badge." I mused. "The only other option is consultant. What _kind_ of consultant, I couldn't tell you. Well, other than an observant one. Gotta be. Not only to get the job, but to know I'm not the killer."

He smiled a bit, not bothering me in the slightest. I was used to stranger looks from people when I showed off. _Like the one Agent Lisbon's showing._

"Wow. I've gotta say, that was impressive."

I shook my head. "Nah. I've got a good attention to detail is all. Think outside the box, look for things other people don't. Comes with the job."

"And what job is that?" Jane asked and I raised a brow.

"You don't know? I thought that's what the file's for." I said, gesturing to the folder Lisbon had.

Said woman opened it and looked down the paper within. "Forensic Anthropologist." Her brows furrowed. "What is it exactly you do?"

"I look at bones. Human bones, mostly, though I do get the occasional animal." I hummed, gaze drifting around the room. "I usually work with the police on murder cases but I go out of country on occasion to do digs. That's rare though."

"Bones?" She questioned and I nodded.

"Yup."

"And why the gloves?" Jane asked suddenly and I turned to him.

"Habit. I'm on call and forget them all the time, so I keep a pair on me at all times. Gives me one less thing to grab before I'm out the door."

"Hm." He hummed, sitting back in his chair. "Could you tell us what happened earlier today? With Dr. Martin?"

"Sure, since you believe me. Might as well help." I said, finishing off my tea and setting it down. "I got a call this morning about 9ish from him. All he said was that he had something important he needed to discuss with me, so I agreed to meet with him at his home at noon."

"Did he sound alright?"

I nodded, answering Lisbon's question. "Oh yeah. Totally normal. Not rushed or anything."

"And how do you know him?"

"He's my psychiatrist."/"He's her psychiatrist." Jane and I said at the same time, making me glance at him warily as he gestured towards me.

"Sorry, bit obvious. You're working with corpses all the time because of your job and are detail oriented. Things stick in your head easily and, judging by the way you twist your wedding ring around, things aren't going well in your marriage. Therefore, I assumed he was helping you through some things."

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, but nothing's wrong with my marriage."

He held his hands up in surrender, implying that he wasn't going to pry any further and Lisbon spoke up.

"Sorry. Ignore him. What happened after the call?"

I turned back to her and rubbed at my chaffing wrists a bit. "I headed over there after grabbing some breakfast at a diner two blocks down from my house, if you wanna check when time of death comes in. Anyway, I knocked and called out for him, but he didn't answer. I figured he was in the bathroom or something and let myself in."

"You mean you broke in?" She asked and I shook my head.

"No, no. The door was unlocked. He kept it that way when he was inside. Said it was a peaceful neighborhood and he wouldn't have to worry about anything. I told him before not to be so trusting, but he doesn't listen."

"Alright. Then what happened?"

"Well, I checked the living room and kitchen, figuring he'd be around somewhere, but no luck. It was then I started thinking that he might be in trouble. I'd mentioned to him before that I'm connected with police and I thought that maybe when he said something important, he was really asking me if I could help him that way, you know? So I started looking faster and calling out for him, but no answer."

"And why didn't you call the police?" Lisbon asked and I sighed.

"Yeah, I know the police. They want proof something happened first. Hate being called on wild goose chases and I convinced myself that maybe he was just out somewhere."

"But you kept looking." Jane concluded and I winced.

"Yeah, I'm not very convincing. Even to myself."

He nodded, sipping at his tea as I went on.

"But I finished checking the first floor with no signs and headed up to the second. The last room I checked was his bedroom and I found him just like that. Smiley face on the wall and him dead."

"So how did you come about the murder weapon? And why the gloves?" Lisbon asked.

"I work forensics, understand? I know how much of a pain it is to have compromised evidence because some idiot went and put their fingerprints on something they shouldn't have. So I put on gloves. I wasn't sure he was dead though. Needed proof, I suppose, and checked his pulse. Once I confirmed it, I made note of the time and caught sight of something glinting under his bed."

"And what time was it?"

"12:23pm. On the dot." I replied. "And I thought that the object under the bed might be whatever important thing Dr. Martin wanted to talk about and discovered the murder weapon. I looked to see if it had fingerprints out of habit, and it didn't, and that was when the police showed up. Me, standing there holding the murder weapon with gloves and blood on my hands. So, of course, they blame me." I sat back in my chair with a sigh. "Well, maybe when the time of death comes in, my breakfast at the diner will give me an alibi or something. God, I really screwed up this time. My boss is gonna be pissed."

I leaned my head on the back of the chair and stared up at the ceiling for a bit, until Jane spoke up.

"We know it's not you. Red John did it, that much is obvious."

I scoffed. "Right, well, good luck proving that." I tilted my head back and gave him a look. "He's a serial killer, right? If you haven't caught him yet, then I doubt I'll get through the court case without being sentenced to jail."

"You... know about Red John?"

I shook my head at Lisbon's question. "Nah. I figured he's a serial killer 'cause he's got one of those newspaper nicknames and you don't get one of those unless you've killed more than one person. Not to mention that you say he killed Dr. Martin, meaning he hasn't been caught up until now. That's all I know though. I don't watch the news. Gets my hopes up for a new case to work on, or depresses the crap out of me. Dr. Martin said I should start watching it again, but... I don't feel like it makes a difference whether I watch it or not. It's all gossip anyway."

"Aright. I think we've gotten everything we need." Lisbon said, getting up and heading for the door, looking back at Jane for a moment when he didn't immediately follow. "Jane? You coming?"

"Hm?" He hummed, looking back and seeing her by the door, before nodding and getting up. "Oh, right. Yes. It was very nice to meet you, Dani." He said, shaking my hand with a smile. "I hope we see each other again soon."

I smiled a little. "If our jobs allow us... and if I don't go to jail for this."

He chuckled a bit. "I'll make sure you won't."

I then picked up the tea and saucer and held it out to him. "Thanks. For that, and the tea."

"Pleasure." He said, before heading out as well, leaving me in there with nothing to do but mentally scold myself for acting like a smartass.

 _God, can't do anything right today, can I?_

* * *

Jane and Lisbon left the interrogation and she immediately turned to him.

"So? What do you think? Do you believe her story?"

"I already told you, Lisbon, she didn't do it."

"Well, how do we prove it? We're no closer to catching Red John than before and she was caught standing there with the murder weapon. No jury in the world is going to believe she's innocent."

Jane paused, a small frown on his face. "Well, we're going to have to prove it, or we'll be sending an innocent forensic worker to jail for a crime she wasn't even involved in."

Lisbon sighed. "But _how_? What can we do?"

"Nothing. The question is, what can _I_ do."

She frowned at him, not liking where this was going. "Jane, what are you planning?"

"Please, Lisbon. I'm not _always_ getting into trouble, you know."

"I beg to differ." She retorted, but Jane wasn't bothered by her comment.

"She just needs to have the right people on her side in court. Which means it's lucky she found me." He said with a grin and Lisbon sighed.

"Alright, I have no idea what you're up to, but leave me out of it, okay? The last thing I need is for you to be doing something you shouldn't be."

"I'll be on my best behavior." He teased and she gave him a look.

"You better."

* * *

I sighed quietly again, ignoring the comforting hand placed on my upper back as my lawyer tried to get me out of this mess. It wasn't looking good for me. Because the police had caught me there holding the murder weapon over a dead body of my psychiatrist, the jury was more inclined to believe them. Telling my side of the story didn't help much, and claiming that their evidence was circumstantial hadn't gotten me an appeal either. We tried to counter with the fact that it was claimed to be a Red John case and I hadn't even known about the serial killer, thanks to my lack of news watching, but there was no proof that I didn't hear of him so that threw the idea out the window. And, try as I might, my track record with the police wasn't exactly a great one either. _Like it's my fault they don't look at the evidence. Though my boss never liked me arguing with them anyway, and now it's come back to bite me in the ass._ My lawyer suddenly leaned over though, whispering to me quietly.

"Dani, there's one last thing I want to try."

I gave him a look, wondering what in the world he could possibly have that would get me out of this mess.

"A guy came up to me the other day and said he could help if I put him on the stand."

"Who?" I asked back and he fidgeted slightly.

"A, uh, Patrick Jane."

My eyes widened.

"He claimed to have intimate knowledge of the Red John serial killer cases and that his insight on this could possibly turn things to our favor. It's worth a shot."

"Do it." I said bluntly, making him give me a worried look.

"A-Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I trust him. Do it."

He nodded, standing up. "Your honor, I'd like to call up Patrick Jane to the stand."

* * *

Jane was impressive. That was all I could say, and I could begin to see the jury leaning towards my side. With his expert knowledge of Red John and the Red John cases, he was easily able to prove that it couldn't of possibly have been me. Sure, there were still a couple of doubts here and there, thanks to the counter questioning, but the jury was out and I was hopeful that I'd be released.

"Jury, what decision have you come up with?"

"The jury finds the defendant... not guilty."

"Ah ha!" I cheered, a happy smile on my face as I spun around and hugged my lawyer happily, thanking the Gods that I was free from this mess. The moment I was out of the courtroom though, my eyes scanned the masses for that curly haired man who'd helped me stay out of jail. The second I found him, I stealthily snuck over and tackled him in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said quickly, pulling away upon feeling him stiffen in my embrace. "I don't care if you're not a hugging person, you just saved me from being thrown in jail!"

He smiled a bit. "You're welcome."

The two of us started heading out and I couldn't help the grin on my face. Jane spoke up first though.

"I see you're not much of a girly-girl."

I looked over at him and caught his pointed look at the slacks I was wearing and I chuckled.

"You caught me. Been a tomboy all my life. Skirts just aren't my thing and I'm lucky. I landed a job where I can wear jeans all the time."

"Who do you work with, exactly? What police department?"

"Ooh, all sorts. Sacramento PD, Los Angeles PD, FBI sometimes. Worked with the CIA once. I was only an assistant though."

"Do you get cases often?"

I shook my head. "Nah. Often enough to keep me going money wise, but people are usually found before they decompose to the point that I'm called in. I've been called in before though, to check out a body after a coroner's done with it. That's always fun."

"Hm. What about the CBI? Ever worked with them?"

I paused, thinking about it. "Hm... Don't think so. Either it's never been in my jurisdiction or they've never found someone I need to deal with. Why? You offering?" I teased, knowing he had no say in whether I get called in by them or not.

"No, no. I can't do that, though you already know that." He went quiet for a moment before he paused on the stairs and turned to me, pointing. "Do you wanna get some tea?"

I tilted my head curiously, but shrugged. "Sure. I've got nothing to do."

He smiled. "Perfect."

* * *

The two of us sat in a diner, having decided that lunch would be a good idea instead of tea since I'd been in court all day and hadn't had a chance to eat yet. I'd gotten a chicken burger and was eagerly eating away, whereas Jane had ordered scrambled eggs and other breakfast items. He pointed at them with his fork, speaking with his mouth full.

"You can always tell how good a place is by their eggs."

"Mm, so I've heard." I said, once I'd swallowed, pointing a french fry his way. "You shouldn't talk with your mouth full. I've seen people choke doing that."

He rolled his eyes a bit. "Yes, mother."

I felt a twinge of embarrassment, but hid it well, pulling off a small smile instead. "Just keeping you alive."

He gestured at my burger then, clearing his throat as he wiped his face with a napkin. "Why chicken?"

I looked down at the burger and back up. "Oh. I have allergies. Bad ones. Found out when I was little that some hamburger spices blow me up like a balloon. There's only a few places I can still eat them at, none of which have proven to be very good. And I've grown to distrust them in general, so I get chicken instead when I go to new places."

"Ah... What else are you allergic to?"

I shrugged, eating a fry and then answering. "Some grasses and weeds and some cheese preservative in certain pizza's and macaroni."

"Oh, well, that takes the fun out of everything, doesn't it?"

"You're telling me. You don't break out in hives when you discover a new one." I joked and he chuckled a little.

Things grew quiet for a moment as we continued eating, but he spoke up once more.

"I find you a very curious person, Dani."

"How so?" I questioned back.

"Well, we've only just met the other day and it was hardly a 'meeting' seeing as you were being interrogated. But you've answered just about every personal question I've thrown at you and haven't asked any in return. I find that very strange." He leaned forward slightly. "What's your game?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Game? What, like I'm trying to trick you or something?"

"I don't know." He said, leaning back again. "You tell me."

I sighed, setting down the fry I was going to eat and cleaning off my hands on my napkin, eyes cast down. "It's nothing like that."

"Then tell me."

I looked back up at him seriously. "Everyone has secrets, Mr. Jane."

He waved me off. "Just Jane's fine."

"Jane, then." I repeated with a nod. "The thing is, people are always trying to get to those secrets and I found that if you're more open about everything else they ask you, they assume you're dull, boring. They don't go digging for the mystery, because to them, you're an open book."

"That explained you answering all my questions, but why do you ask none in return?" He questioned.

"Because, Jane. I know what it feels like to have someone poking at a secret that you'd rather be left alone. And I don't want to inflict that pain on others." I cleared my throat, picking up my cup of tea. "Besides, it's bad enough I find out most people's secrets right off. I've just learned to keep my mouth shut about them."

"Tell me." He suddenly asked, only confusing me even more.

"What?"

"Tell me what you see in me." He explained, making me nervous.

"I-I really don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh, come on. You say you see all these things. Prove it."

I felt my fingers twitch towards twisting my wedding ring, but held back. "Look, Jane. I like you. You seem like a decent guy and I don't want to ruin that. I'd really like to be friends with you, so telling you about what I see... it's not something I'm willing to do." I got up and pulled out enough money to pay for my meal, placing it on the table. "I'm sorry, Jane. But I've lost a good number of people because of this and I'd rather not lose another."

"Ah, wait! Wait, Dani!"

* * *

I hadn't heard from Jane in weeks and I felt more than guilty about the way I'd left. Didn't help that the nightmares were back and I wasn't sleeping as well as I used to.

"Oh, what am I going to do, Jack?" I questioned the scattered pieces of a skull that had been smashed in. "I've gotta make up with him, but I've got no way of contacting him. All I know is that he's a consultant with the CBI, and I doubt they'd just let me in claiming to be apologizing to him. I don't even know why I'm so guilty about it. It wasn't the first time I've broken things off with someone before we became friends."

I paused, thinking over what I knew about Jane and what I'd figured out, and let out a long sigh as I carefully put down the piece I was working with and grabbed my soda from off the table.

"Never mind. I know why..." I muttered quietly, taking a drink of the beverage just as someone knocked on the door and poked their head in.

It was Jameson, a young undergrad who worked with me on occasion and informed me when people needed to speak with me. A secretary or assistant, if you will. His dark, shaggy hair bouncing on his head as he fidgeted and I set down my soda.

"Yes, Jameson? I'm a bit busy." I said, gesturing to the half composed skull on the table. "Jack is the key part of an investigation and needs to be finished in the next couple of weeks. I can't really do distractions right now."

"Yes, sorry, but you just got a call? Boss said you need to go. It's a body in Placer County."

I groaned, twisting my chair around and pulling a hand though my hair. "Seriously? Doesn't seem I have much of a choice. Ask him if I can take Jack with me."

He gave me a disbelieving look and I rolled my eyes.

"Go on."

"Ah! Yes, ma'am." He said, quickly rushing out of the room I was in as I began gathering up Jack's pieces and putting them back into the evidence bag.

He came back as I was putting on my coat and double checking that the glue holding Jack together would hold.

"So?" I asked and he nodded.

"Boss says it's fine, but if you lose anything you're, um, fired."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved off. "It'll be fine. Do me a favor?"

"Sure. Anything." He said eagerly and I gave him a serious look.

"If I find any one of my sodas missing from the fridge, I swear to God, I will hold you personally responsible." I stepped closer as he swallowed nervously. "I will kill you, melt the flesh right off your body, crush your skull in just like Jack's, and make sure you're never found. And trust me, I've been doing this long enough, I know how to get away with murder." I put a sudden grin on my face. "Okay?"

"Y-Y-You _are_ joking, right?"

I pat him on the back with a roll of my eyes, making towards the door. "Of _course_ I'm joking."

I walked out and waited a second, before poking my head back into the room, making him jump.

"But seriously. If one of my sodas is missing..."

I drew a finger across my throat and then smiled cheerfully again.

"Bye Jameson!~"

"B-Bye?"

* * *

Upon arriving and showing my ID to the police officer standing out in front, I was allowed in and pointed towards a small house; being told the corpse was in the basement and that the officers I'd be working with were already in there. It was a pretty ratty place, pretty old and didn't look like it'd had any visitors hanging around recently. It was a nice place though and I couldn't help but look around as I was pointed to the basement. I made my way down the stairs carefully, not knowing how stable the steps were and called out to the people already in the room.

"Hey, I'm here about the dead body?" I glanced to the right, where I saw the bones, not getting a good look at the people in the room as I groaned. "Or ' _bodies_ ', as it were. I really wish people would give me the right information before they go and—"

I cut myself off upon seeing the trio standing together at the base of the stairs; in particular, the grinning curly haired blonde.

" _Jane_?"


	2. Chapter 2

He gave me a little wave. "Hello, Dani. I told you we'd be seeing each other again."

The built, gruff looking Korean man beside him, gave him a look. "You know her?"

Jane nodded. "Oh yeah. We go way back."

"No, we don't." I argued, smacking him on the arm as I went over to the bodies. "He interrogated me for a crime I didn't commit, testified for me in court, and we got lunch after. He knows more about me than I do him."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." The man replied, holding out a hand to me. "I'm CBI Agent Kimbly Cho. You already know Patrick Jane, and this is Rick Anaya; the chief here."

I shook his hand and nodded my head to the chief. "Dani Michaels. Forensic Anthropologist. I deal with bones, as you can see."

I turned back to the three sets of skeletons and began my work. Someone knelt down beside me for a moment and I didn't even attempt to shift my gaze away from the bodies in front of me.

"So? What have you found?"

"Not much." I grumbled. "Other than the usual, the most I can tell you is how long ago they died and a bundle of information that's probably useless. I'll know more once I can get them cleaned up and examined in better lighting."

I let out a sigh and began carefully putting the bones into the three plastic containers that I'd gotten an officer to pull out from my car.

"What _do_ you know?" Cho asked. "Anything you've got could be useful."

I gave him a look, but upon seeing he was serious, I shrugged. "Alright, but you asked for this... All three victims had started undergoing some strenuous work that they weren't used to, not long before they passed. All three also seemed to have drug issues. This one here." I pointed to the body on top, picking up their hand and pointing out the knuckles. "They've been in a fight before, the knuckles are cracked. They've also been using drugs longer than the other two, but may have gotten clean for a time, couldn't tell you. This one here." I pointed to the one on the bottom. "Broke his arm when he was younger. All three are between the ages of 30 and 45, all male. Their diet wasn't the greatest either. Looks like the one on top was killed by a shotgun—"

"How'd you get that?" Jane interrupted and I frowned at him.

"Don't interrupt." I snipped, before pointing to the third rib up on the top body. "There's a chip in the bone here, consistent with a fast moving, small round object. I've seen enough shotgun murders to know it was one of those. That..." I reached down and picked up a small shiny object from off the floor. "And there's shotgun pellets all over the floor. Most likely fell out of the body when it decomposed."

"No shell casings in here though." Rick said and I nodded.

"The top one was at least brought here after being shot elsewhere."

"And the others weren't?" Jane questioned and I shrugged.

"Not sure. I don't think so. I just think someone did well to clean up after themselves. Look at their positions." I gestured to the two bodies on the bottom of the pile. "They're sprawled out face-down, and these two on the bottom were tied up with wire. My guess is that they were shot while standing or kneeling and fell forward. This one on top was either the last to be shot, or he wasn't around when these two were shot. Though I can't say anything for sure. Like I said, I'll know more once they're brought to a lab." I paused suddenly, turning to Jane with furrowed brows. "Do you guys even have a lab?"

Cho was the one who spoke up though. "Shouldn't you take it back to where you work?"

I shook my head. "Can't. It's policy that I'm not allowed to bring outside cases into the work place. I have to take care of all examinations at the lab of the officer group I'm working with, unless they are incapable of providing the right environment." I rattled off, making Jane chuckle.

"Sounds like you've had that drilled into your head."

I sighed. "More like I've gotten in trouble enough times for breaking the rules, that they made me copy the whole book three times so I wouldn't forget them."

"Oh-ho! A trouble maker!" Jane said, almost excitedly, getting up as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't you have things to go investigate?" He just smiled at me and I turned to Cho. "So, you CBI guys have a lab?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'll text you the address."

I bobbed my head in agreement, tossing him my phone so he had my contact information, and finished packing away the three bodies into separate containers. The whole time though, I was listening in on the case information—out of curiosity and to see if there was anything to help with identifying what happened to the three bodies I was now going to have to examine.

"Anything else?" Cho asked Rick and the man nodded, pulling out an evidence bag.

"Yeah, a couple of things. High school class ring. Guess it fell off one of them."

I paused in what I was doing and gave the man a look. "Where did you find it, _exactly_?"

"Huh? Oh, right around here." He gestured to a place under where the body on top had been and I gave it a strange look.

"That's odd."

"Why's that odd?" Cho asked and I turned to him.

"Well, normally when a victim has a ring on and decomposes to this point, the ring either gets caught on one of the metacarpals and stays on the finger, _or_ it falls off a little ways from the hand. Where Chief Anaya found it, was under the top body and nowhere _near_ the hand of the bottom body. So either it had been there before the bodies were dropped, it was planted before the top body was dropped, or..."

I trailed off, not really wanting to say the third option because of the sheer disbelief of it, but Jane pushed for an answer.

"Or?"

I looked up at him, then turned to Cho and Rick. "Or the top man swallowed it and it fell out of his stomach when he decomposed; landing beneath him approximately where his abdomen was."

"That's crazy!" Rick exclaimed and I shrugged.

"It's still a possibility. Unless it gets proven otherwise, that card's still on the table."

Rick shook his head, trying to dislodge the thought of a man eating his class ring, before he cleared his throat and pulled out another evidence bag. Cho immediately questioned it.

"Is that it?"

"No, this. A .38. and one round's been fired. Not in here as far as we can tell."

Cho was handed the gun and the bullet, but Jane suddenly spoke up, looking squeamish.

"This is very depressing. I'm gonna wait outside."

He left and Cho turned to me. "Do you have a van to store those bodies or should I call one of our team?"

"Nah, I brought a van from work. Didn't expect _three_ bodies, but they'll fit. Just means I'll have less time for Jack."

Cho raised a brow. "Jack?"

I nodded, resuming my pack up of the bodies. "Yup. A skull of a murder victim in a drug raid case I'm working on. I'm piecing his head back together after someone took some kind of blunt weapon to it. Lucky me, has a few weeks to fix it and now I have three bodies to deal with on top of that."

"Sounds fun. If you like that sort of thing." He said, and I chuckled.

"Yeah. I suppose so. If you want, I'm gonna be a little while. You can head back... or wherever your boss wants you."

He nodded. "Will do. I'll see you back at HQ."

I waved him off and he and Rick headed back upstairs as I finished up what I was doing. _Seems like this'll be an interesting case. I just wonder how I'm going to get past all the work. That, and Jane..._

* * *

"Good morning." Lisbon smiled, entering the bull pen with me following behind her and looking around. "Thank you for the party. It was very thoughtful."

"You're welcome." The taller man on her right said, his appearance making me realize that he was _very_ hung over.

"But I am never going to forgive you for that stripper." Lisbon blurted out harshly.

 _Hm, apparently the party was for her and she didn't enjoy it as much as she would've._ I enjoyed watching the taller man shrink down in his chair though and let out a quiet snicker, making Lisbon gesture to me.

"This, as some of you already know, is Dani Michaels."

I waved with a small smile. "Hello."

"She'll be finding out what she can on the three bodies. Dani, this is Wayne Rigsby."

The hung over man from before gave me a small smile and wave too. "Hello."

"And Grace Van Pelt."

The red haired woman smiled back as well. "Hey."

"Hey. I probably won't be seeing much of you guys. I'll mostly be down in the lab looking over the bodies, but if there's anything you need, don't mind asking. Bones, corpses, and fine details are my thing." I chirped, though I could see Van Pelt squirm a bit, uncomfortable. "Oh! And I'll be reading up on the case files to help me figure out anything I find with the bodies, so keep me updated." I tossed Van Pelt my phone. "Exchange numbers with me then pass it to Rigsby, and I'll be on my way. Texts are preferred though. I tend to loose sense of where I am once I get into something and don't pay attention if my phone rings. If you need a face-to-face talk though, text me and I'll come right up."

"Fine details?" Rigsby questioned and I nodded.

"Yup. Comes with looking at bones, but I helped a bit in LAPD homicide on some cases. I can connect the dots well, it seems." I shrugged.

"Huh." Rigsby hummed, catching my phone as Van Pelt tossed it to him.

"Where _are_ we with the victims, if you don't mind me asking?" Lisbon asked and I nodded, pulling out a small notepad from my coat pocket.

"Right. Um, three victims. All died about 25 years ago. The top body was most likely dumped after the other two, seeing as their situation appears different, according to the evidence."

"What evidence?" Lisbon asked.

"The bottom two were tied up with wire and were killed so that they ended up in a position different from the top body. And the top victim hadn't died right away, seeing as he had time to swallow the class ring."

"Swallow it?" Lisbon asked dubiously and I nodded.

"I believe so. There's no solid evidence of that, but where it was found suggests that it's the most likely scenario, not that it just fell off or was planted."

"Alright. Thank you Dani. If you find anything else..."

"I'll be sure to let you know." I smiled politely, before heading off; knowing that that was my cue to leave.

Once I took the lift down, I pulled out my iPod, looking for the right song I could listen to as I reached the lab. I then headed over to the tables with my three body containers on them, and made up a nice batch of chemical solution tubs to clean the bones in; being sure to keep the three bodies separate in order to not mix up the bones. I hummed to myself as the loud punk rock music blasted through my earbuds and lost myself in the methodical task I was doing; having done it millions of times before to the point where I could probably do it in my sleep. This was why I jumped when Jane suddenly popped up out of nowhere with a big grin and a cheesy wave.

"God, Jane!" I yelled, pulling out my earbuds with a frown. "Don't you know not to sneak up on people?!"

He gave me a look. "I _did_ call out to you. It's not my fault you weren't listening."

I rolled my eyes with a sigh, trying to relax my tensed muscles. "Whatever. What do you want? I have bones to scrub."

"Oh, don't mind me." He said and I quickly went back to what I was doing; still keeping an eye on him as he wandered the room.

"What's in that?" He asked, pointing to the tub.

"Chemicals. They're tough enough to make it easy to remove flesh and dirt from the bones if soaked long enough, but they're not strong enough to eat at the bones like other chemicals would."

"But couldn't that dirt have evidence?"

"Sure, which is why the liquid later gets sent for processing. It's just not my job to do that. I just need to clean the bones, line them up right, and then look for minor details that I couldn't find before." I rattled off, not too bothered by his questioning.

"Ah... Would you like to go for a ride? Lisbon and I are checking out a cult group that may be involved."

I raised a brow at him. "I have work to do, Jane. Work that could help in this case."

"Oh, I know that. It won't be long though. Quick trip, then you can come back to your... friends."

I shook my head, turning back to my work. "No, Jane. It's not my place. I'm just supposed to be here for the bones, and once the case is done or my work is no longer needed, I'm going back."

"You don't honestly mean that." He pushed and I could feel my annoyance with him building. "Come on. Just a bit of fun and no one will even know you left. I _know_ you're interested."

"Interested or not, Jane, I'm not going to get involved in something that isn't any of my business! Okay?!" I snapped, glaring at the man, before realizing I'd been shouting and turning away, clearing my throat and lowering my voice. "I'm sorry, but I just want to do my work and leave you to yours. Whatever people you're dealing with, I want no part in it."

"Alright." He said, surprisingly easily. "I won't make you go if you don't want to."

He started heading for the door and I waited to hear the door shut before I even began to try and relax, but he spoke up once more before leaving.

"And I still want to see what you've figured out about me, Dani. I'm not giving up just yet."

The door soon closed and I let out a long sigh, frustrated with Jane and wishing that he would just leave me be. _But even I can see he's not the type to let things go. The sooner this case is figured out, the better._

* * *

Jane grinned pleasantly as he carried the to-go bag with the chili in it into the CBI. Lisbon raised a brow at his suddenly cheerful mood.

"What's got you so happy? Something I should know about?"

"Oh, no. Nothing much. Just though I should bring our new forensic friend some chili." He chirped.

"Uh… huh." She smirked, an idea coming to mind. "Jane, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked this new girl."

"I do like her." He said simply. "She's a wonderful woman, very smart, strong. I'm sure she'd make a great addition to our team."

" _Oh_ , no. She's here for this case, and this case only." Lisbon said. "I'm serious, Jane. She's here to do her job, and that's it."

"Oh, but think about it! She can be all sorts of helpful in our other cases."

"No, Jane."

Jane frowned, but then shrugged. "Alright. Have it your way."

Lisbon got out of the elevator, eyeing him suspiciously for giving in so quickly, but he simply headed down to the lab with a small smile aimed her way. Upon reaching the lab in the basement, Jane smirked at seeing Dani once again with her earbuds in, scrubbing at bones and setting them on the tables in anatomical position.

"Dani?" He called out, feeling devious when she gave no reaction to knowing he was there.

Chuckling to himself, he bounded over when her back was turned and waited for her to turn back around, only for her to jump and very nearly drop the femur she was holding.

"Damn it, Jane! Stop that! I could have broken something!" She shouted, yanking out her earbuds with a glare as she placed the femur down carefully. "Honestly, what are you doing here anyway? I thought you left."

"I did and now I'm back." He said happily, holding up the bag. "And I brought you some chili."

She rolled her eyes, moving back to scrub another bone clean. "I don't understand you."

"Hm? How's that then?" He asked, pulling a stool over and sitting on it; watching her go through her process in slight fascination.

"Bringing me food, helping me in court. We barely know each other, so why are you doing things like this?" She asked, him even more curious about her and the walls she had up between her and everyone else.

"I like you, Dani." He admitted honestly, smiling a bit when she fumbled yet another bone and gave him a second glare. "You're interesting."

She scoffed. "There's plenty of other interesting people. Go bug them."

"Oh, but none of them try so hard to avoid me like you do." He teased. "How hard would it be to just tell me what you think about me?"

There was a short pause before Dani suddenly spoke.

"You're a performer. Everything you do is well thought out and you put on an act for everyone while you hide behind a mask of grins and childish antics. You've lost someone close to you and a psychologist would probably say you're psychopathic. You hate confrontations, get away with sly tricks and slights of the hand that give you a chance to do the kind of work you do without too much repercussion because no one can fully pin the blame on you. You're smart, cunning, a real con man who likes to play mind games with people. You ignore authority and taunt people. You're manipulative, tormented, and loyal to those few who are important to you, but you never let anyone get too close. You keep people at a distance because you're afraid of losing people again. You're an insomniac, dislike physical contact, like puzzles, your own space, tea and books. But that loss drives you towards revenge and prevents you from forming long lasting relations with anyone; even those closest to you." She turned slightly towards him, not showing her expression. "And you're a complete _moron_ who won't take no for an answer even if you know it will hurt you in the end. Now get _out_."

She only had to say it once for Jane to get up and leave; the bag with the chili in it remaining on the stool he'd left as Dani paused in scrubbing a humerus and set the bone down with a curse.

* * *

Lisbon sighed as she knocked on the door to Jane's little alcove up in the top of the CBI Headquarters.

"Hello, Lisbon." Jane called out from inside and Lisbon raised a brow at his tone; not sounding as pleased as he had been when he'd gone down to give Dani some chili.

"Are you ever going to let me in there again?" She called back.

"How was lunch?" Jane asked instead and she rolled her eyes.

"Lovely. Haffner offered me a job."

 _That_ got him to open the door and stick his head out, curious.

"Really? You going to take it?"

"Right now, I'm considering it." She said. "Come on. We have to go talk to the vet."

The two of them headed out, but Lisbon could tell something was up and eyed Jane as he remained surprisingly silent on the way to the vet they'd gotten a lead on.

"So what's going on?" She asked bluntly, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Hm?"

"Don't give me that. You were all cheery heading down to the lab to bother Dani and now you're quiet as a mouse. So spill. And you better not have done anything to piss her off. We really need her help with those bodies."

"Oh, no, no. Nothing like that." He said, waving it off and gazing out the window with an expression Lisbon didn't care for.

"Don't tell me. She didn't like the chili." Lisbon joked, trying to ease up the atmosphere a bit and Jane smiled slightly.

"I don't know. I sort of just dropped it off and came back up."

Lisbon snorted. "I hardly believe that. From what Chou was saying, you _like_ pushing her buttons. So what'd you do?" Lisbon glanced at him, before frowning. "No… What did _she_ do? She did something, didn't she?"

"No, no. It was my fault." Jane admitted. "I asked for it and… didn't quite know what I was getting into."

" _Oh_ , that's a first. She threw you in for a loop then. Good for her."

Jane went quiet though and didn't say anything more, so Lisbon stayed quiet as well; knowing that whatever had happened between the two, was more personal than Jane wanted to share. _Though it's surprising for someone to upset him this much. It's not necessarily a_ bad _thing, but… it's not good either._ She mentally sighed as they drove up and parked, getting out to go speak to the vet who had a lead for their case.

* * *

I grimaced, feeling a headache coming on as I looked over the bones with a magnifying lamp for any imperfections that would tell me a bit more about the three victims. I'd already sent the DNA to the chemist section of the lab and gotten results back as far as the chemical make-up and such of the bones, only further implying possible drug use and strenuous workouts. _Damaging enough to cause the shoulder and wrist joints to deteriorate, even possible cases of early arthritis. Their nutrition was horrendous for a time and there is sign of breakage and fractures on some of the bones, but they're minor and most likely job related accidents. And the drugs did cause the bones to start the process of osteoporosis and bone loss. The chemical make-up doesn't tell me much about the drug type, but judging by how rapidly the victims were losing bone mass, I'd say it might have been a steroid of some kind. But none of this really helps the investigation._

I pulled a hand through my short auburn hair, frowning at the bones in front of me as another thought came to mind. _And Jane's probably upset with me. I should have just kept my mouth shut. But no. Instead I had to go be a smart ass and lose someone that…_ I shook my head, turning away from the bodies and sitting on a desk nearby; legs crossed Indian-style as I flipped through the paperwork I needed to fill out for the three bodies before me. _Someone that what? That I could have been friends with? Yeah, right. That's…_ I looked at my wedding ring, remembering a smiling face much like Jane's own grin, before I turned my full attention back to the paperwork. _That's the last thing that I need._ I saw, more than heard, the door open and I glanced up tiredly as Lisbon came in; her catching sight of me on the desk and raising a brow. I simply ignored the look and pulled out my earbuds as she spoke.

"I, uh… came to see if you've found anything about the three bodies?"

"Nothing that will help you much." I sighed, hopping off the desk and wincing when I saw Jane come in as well; being sure to avoid his gaze as I pointed out the small things I did find. "Most is just confirming what I'd said before. All three bodies had stress caused to their joints from being bent over and doing rather extensive back-breaking labor. They also had poor nutrition judging by the linear enamel hypoplasia. And the lab detected signs of possible drugs. Judging by the damage they did on the bones, I'm guessing a steroid of some kind. There's a few small fractures and breaks in the limbs too, but those are most likely from work related incidents, seeing as none were fatal nor could be caused by fighting back someone judging by the angle and placement of the breaks. Mr… Uh…"

I bounded over to where my other paperwork was, pulling out the results of the DNA tests.

"Bradovich was the one who had been in fights previously before. The fractures on the metacarpals say that much. The cause of death for him was most likely a shotgun to the chest, which you can tell from the small grooves in the ribs. But the other two I'm not certain of."

Lisbon frowned, but Jane was the one who spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

"There's _maybe_ one or two grooves on the ribs from possible shotgun bullets." I said, moving to the other two bodies and pointing them out. "But they could just be chips from something else. Otherwise, even if they were from a shotgun, they're nonfatal."

"So what could have killed them?" Lisbon asked and I frowned, messing up my hair slightly.

"I can't be positive, but my guess would be stabbing."

"What?"

I pulled over the magnifying lamp and lowered it to point out what I'd found.

"There, on the fourth rib. Do you see it?"

"A little notch." Lisbon said, though I was struggling to breathe with Jane leaning over right next to me. "But you said the shotgun bullets could have—"

"Yes, but they make a different groove. They're more rounded, whereas this one it more of a triangle shape." I said, but she gave me a suspicious look, so I explained. "Look. When a shotgun bullet hits something, it doesn't leave a precise cut like that. It's more of a blunt force trauma. It hits, then usually shatters the bone around it; cracking it. Or it just lodges the bullet in the bone, depending on which way the bullet hit it. If it is a knife though, it's a sharp line, almost like a fracture, but with different distinguishers And usually, we can't tell if a victim has been killed by stabbing when they're this decomposed and it was in a place like the ribs, where a knife can easily slide in without damaging the bone. And I double checked this one to make sure it wasn't possible rodents chewing on it, and it's not. It definitely came from a sharp blade about…" I flipped through my paperwork again. "Three to four inches long with a curved tip."

"A curved tip? Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I'm no expert on weapon types, so I couldn't tell you what kind of knife it was, but…" I flipped the rib over to show the longer scratch like wound on the backside of the rib. "…that shows that the tip was curve; scratching the back of the rib as it exited the body."

"So he was stabbed."

I winced. "Not necessarily. Like I said, I can't confirm that from just the bones, but it is likely. The wound is high enough to have possibly hit the heart or punctured a lung, but without the body itself, I can't confirm or deny that."

She frowned, not looking pleased, but then I remembered something and hurried to the third table.

"But! I did find this."

She came over as I lowered the magnifying lamp down and picked up a small piece of bone with a chip in it.

"Okay, another chipped bone. So what?"

"Not just any bone. It's the third victim's vertebrae." I said. "In particular, the C-5 vertebrae. Complete with a vertebral notch."

"A what?"

I groaned, pointing at the scratch on the bone. " _That_. It's a wound made by the knife that was probably used to slit his throat. I'm assuming it's what killed him, but I can't confirm that since it took near twenty-five years for us to find the bodies. It could have been post mortem too."

She gave me a look. "You can't say anything for certain, can you?"

I sighed. "Absolutely not. Not unless there's significant evidence from all sides of the case that back up what I'm saying and even then, I'm only allowed to give conjectures and potential theories based on the facts that I see. I can, and _will_ get fired if I say anything is for certain unless I've crossed out _every_ other option, and even then, people are constantly coming up with new ideas, so it's always safe that I just 'assume' what happened and don't claim it to be so. Only a coroner is allowed to say how they died for certain and with no flesh to go off of, even they'll be left guessing. It's like walking into a crime scene without any evidence. You can only guess how the killer did it until you find the guy and he tells you how he did it."

"W-Wow. You, uh… got all this from some bones?"

I nodded. "Yup. Probably not much help, but it backs up my theory on the top body being killed separately from the other two. Second killer maybe, but that's just a guess. This is just more evidence you can use to back up whatever your people have."

"Well, thanks. You've been a real help." She said and I nodded, heading to put my paperwork back on the desk as she and Jane headed towards the door.

I glanced at Jane's back as they left, before sighing quietly and settling down to finish my paperwork since I'd probably found all I could on the victims. _I'll do a fifth check later, but it's best I get this done first and then head to the hotel…_ I frowned at the thought, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep. _Or maybe I'll just work on Jack for a while. Better here than leaving bone dust in a hotel room._

* * *

Jane sighed softly, having been unable to sleep with the thought of the case on his mind. The case they were working, the Red John case, and the most recent case he'd found in Dani. She was observant, that was true. She'd nailed him to a T and he'd been forced to leave, because of the harshness of her words. _The way she said them too. Cold, calculating. Like she was just stating the facts and nothing more._ He got up from his cot and headed out of the alcove he'd tucked himself away in after everyone went home from the HQ. Wandering downstairs, he made for the kitchen and made himself some tea before taking a stroll through the building. _I couldn't see her face though. Her voice may have been cold, but her expression could differ that entirely._ He hummed to himself, taking the stairs down instead of the elevator. _She_ did _warn me, after all. Multiple times. And what she said back at the café…_

" _Everyone has secrets… I know what it feels like to have someone poking at a secret that you'd rather be left alone. Andi don't want to inflict that pain on others… I'm sorry, Jane. But I've lost a good number of people because of this and I'd rather not lose another."_

He drummed his fingers on his thigh as he neared the lab area. _She was afraid that what she said would drive me away. And it did._ Guilt welled up in him. _I do the same to others, so I should know better than most how it feels to be on the other side of that. She makes me curious though._ He smiled a bit at the thought. _She's definitely got some secrets of her own, but… I want her to tell me them._ He sipped his tea as the automatic doors opened for him and was pleasantly surprised to see Dani asleep in a chair before an exploded skull. Quietly, Jane wandered over; glancing at the tables and seeing that the bones of the victims from their case were gone. _Put away, probably._ He then spotted the scattered papers on the far side of the desk and picked a few up to see notes on the bones, placements of injuries, possible causes of said injuries, and a number of other little tidbits. _Meticulous note taker, though not very organized._ He mused with a smile, before heading over to the sleeping woman and looking at the skull in stunning fascination.

It was nearly complete; a box of small chips sitting off to the side that still needed to find their place. _This must have taken_ days _to put back together to this extent!_ Jane thought in shock, glancing at the woman, whose brows were furrowed and lips pulled into a small frown. _She's a brilliant puzzle solver, that's for sure. Though… she obviously isn't a peaceful sleeper._ Jane reached up and hesitated; a hand hovering over the slumbering woman before he pulled it back and took off his jacket. He gently placed it over her shoulders, but made no other actions before leaving to return to his humble abode upstairs.

* * *

" _Kris?" I called out, dropping my keys into the small bowl by the door and removing my coat as I poked my head into the kitchen. "Kris?"_

 _He wasn't in the kitchen, though the timer on the oven was going off and I went ahead and pulled out the lasagna that he'd put in there._

" _You're burning dinner!" I called out, still receiving no response, which made me frown. "Oi, if you're hiding around the corner with a squirt gun again, I'll have you know, I've always had better marksmanship skills than you!"_

 _I furrowed my brows, heading upstairs and spotting the bedroom door at the end of the hall cracked open._

" _Kris?"_

 _I walked through the hall, the scent of something brushing my nose, but unable to pin exactly what it was. I hesitated, but lightly pushed the door open, only for all the color to drain from my face at what awaited me._

I gasped, shooting up from my seat and very nearly tumbling back to the ground with how my legs shook underneath me. I breathed deeply, trying to calm my frazzled nerves as I leaned heavily on the desk before me; a bead of sweat slipping off the end of my nose and splashing on the smooth wood. A knock at the door startled me and I jumped, closing my eyes with a silent curse at the action before turning to a curious Rigsby.

"Uh, the boss wants you upstairs."

"R-Right. Just give me a second."

He nodded and left, leaving me to pull a hand through my hair tiredly and frown at realizing the sleeve draped over my arm was from a jacket that wasn't mine. I lifted it up and off me, before I winced. _It's Jane's. He must have caught me sleeping down here, but why would he…_ I shook my head, draping the jacket over my arm and heading upstairs to see what it was they needed of me. _Especially since I did my job and am pretty much done unless they need me for the court case._ I grimaced at the thought. _I hate court cases._ The doors soon opened and I got out, feeling the aches in my body from sleeping at the desk and the nightmare still haunting me in the back of my mind. Before I could even fully step into the room though, a cup and saucer were shoved under my nose.

"Tea?" Jane asked with a smile and I eyed him suspiciously, nodding in thanks as I took it from him and handed him his jacket.

"Thanks…" I muttered, moving to sit on the comfortable looking couch, only to catch sight of the four others in the room watching me in shock as I did so.

I raised a brow, wondering what it was I'd done that had them looking at one another like that; sipping my tea as all eyes went to Jane. Jane though, simply smiled and sat beside me, making me frown slightly as the other members of the group gaped in shock.

"Uh, alright then." Lisbon said, shaking herself out of whatever stupor the group was in and addressing everyone. "When the murders occurred, Bradovich was pushing the farm workers as hard as possible. They were stealing water from neighboring farms, and still failing to make the farm produce. How does any of _that_ get the three of them killed?"

Rigsby spoke up. "Well, I checked on Crayhew. He spent some time with a right-wing militia in the mid-'80s. The county sheriff still thinks he's got a lot more guns on that farm."

"It wouldn't surprise me. What about the forensics team that was searching the farm? Did they come up with anything?" Lisbon turned to me and I raised a brow.

"I'm not a part of that team. I just work with the bones."

Chou spoke, saving me. "Nothing yet. They're still looking."

"Stay on them." Lisbon demanded and Jane interrupted.

"I'm interested in the drugs the good father mentioned."

"He said it was just a rumor." Van Pelt commented, but I spoke up.

"Actually, the signs of stress and the brittleness of the bones show that it was highly possible they were taking a sort of steroid type of chemical that causes bone loss. I couldn't tell you what kind though. The chemical analysis of bones isn't that well developed and a lot of drugs could cause that kind of damage."

Jane gestured over to me with a grin. "See? And if they didn't get it from Visualize, then where did they get it from?"

I raised a brow, not sure who exactly we were talking about anymore. I was just a lab worker, so I was used to being left out of the loop, but why drag me up here if they were going to talk about a part of the case I had no business being involved in? _I don't know this father whoever or Visualize. So why am I here?_ Lisbon sent a portion of the group off to go pick someone up and Van Pelt stayed behind to dig up information, before she turned to me.

"Have you discovered anything more with the bones?"

I shook my head, setting my cup and saucer down. "No. I checked again and everything's still the same. Nothing new. I've probably found everything I could. And the paperwork to send the bones back to their families and the ones for any future court cases have already been filled out. So it's all up to you on whether I should prep them for departure now or stay for a while to do it when the case is over."

"Well, it's been nice to work with you and I think it'd be best if you—"

"Stayed." Jane interrupted, cutting her off as she went to dismiss me. "Please."

I frowned, suspicious of what he was up to and why he was still trying to drag me into this when I was technically done. _Especially after what I said before. I just… I don't understand what he's attempting to do._

Turning away from him, I faced Lisbon. "It'll take me a while to prep the bones for the families, so I'll still be around for another day or so if you need anything." I spun to face Jane, glaring. "But after that, I'm leaving. I have other work I need to do."

Lisbon cracked a smile at that and shook my hand after I'd stood. "Well, as I was saying, it's been a pleasure working with you."

"Same." I replied automatically, glancing briefly at Jane before heading back downstairs; still wondering what his deal was.

* * *

Lisbon strolled into the kitchen later on that evening after interviewing Anaya—the police officer who had been involved in getting drugs to the farm. In the kitchen, was a rather frustrated looking Jane and she gave him a wry smirk.

"Things not going well with Dani?"

"Hm? Ah, no." He said with a sort of grimace. "Not quite. Seems I may have pushed something I shouldn't have and she's more cautious than ever."

Lisbon raised a brow, surprised that Jane would admit that his upsetting someone bothered him.

"But enough about me. What'd you find out?"

"Two of the drug dealers Anaya gave us are dead. The other one's on death row in Texas. I've got a call in to the Department of Corrections to see if I can interview him. Oh, remember the missing bullet from the gun we found near the bodies? Techs finally found it. It was buried in the dirt in front of the barn. Like somebody had shot into the ground."

Jane's brows furrowed. "Where outside the barn?"

"Right in front of the painted face."

"Hm."

There was a knock then and both of them turned to see Dani standing there, looking a bit sheepish.

"Sorry to, uh, interrupt. It's just that… well, I found something odd when putting the bones back. I don't know how I missed it earlier."

Lisbon frowned. "What is it?"

Dani stepped in, barely glancing at Jane as she held up a small jar with a bone chip in it. "This."

"It's bone."

"Yeah, but it's not human." Dani explained. "I'd assumed it was a part of one of the skulls or a piece of their chipped ribs or something, but I checked it with everything I could and it doesn't fit anything. So I sent it to the lab and found out that it's a chip of animal bone."

"Animal bone?"

Dani nodded tiredly. "Yeah. I'm not sure where exactly I picked it up while collecting the bones, or else I'd be able to tell you how it got there. Judging by the thickness though, I'd say it was either from the skull of the animal or some other thinner bone like the scapular or something." She pulled a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I suppose it's not that important. They _were_ found in a barn, so it's possible an animal had died in there or was shot in there much earlier and they just happened to be in the same place, giving it a chance to be underneath them or even embedded into them should the animal have been shot near them. Just thought you'd want to know about the mistake."

She went to leave, but suddenly stopped; eyes locked on the photo of the happy face on the side of the barn as she went deathly pale.

"Dani? You alright?" Jane asked, and she quickly shook herself out of it, voice shaky as she spoke in a hurry.

"F-Fine. I'll be… downstairs."

Lisbon though, was hesitant; having spotted the signs of lack of sleep and stress anywhere. "Maybe you should head home, Dani. Save the rest for tomorrow."

Dani shook her head though. "No. N-No, I'm alright. Sorry to bother you."

Jane and Lisbon exchanged worried looks, but Jane gave her a small nod.

"I'll check up on her later."

Lisbon reluctantly nodded back, before they continued on with talking about Jane's plan on solving the case.

* * *

I was packing up the last of my things, having not had to stay for any future court dates seeing as apparently only _one_ of the bodies was killed by their suspect and even then, only in self-defense. I was tired though, exhausted. The nightmares were worse than ever, since I'd seen that photo of the happy face on the side of the barn. The very same happy face that had been on the wall above the bed stand in— _No. No, stop thinking about it. Forget about it._

"Ah, Dani! Leaving already?" Jane called out and I felt my eyebrow twitch as I stuffed another suitcase of equipment into my van.

"Yes. The case is over, I'm not needed for the court case, so I need to return and hand Jack over to my boss for _his_ case and then pick up whatever work I missed while staying here." I rattled off, closing the back of the van.

"Or you could just stay." He said cheerfully. "I'm sure if you asked, I could put in a good word for you and—"

"Aright, enough." I snapped, rounding on him angrily. "What is it you want? Huh? You drag me into your mess, poke and prod at me like I'm some… some puzzle for you to figure out. Then I finally give you what you want and you leave for maybe a day before you're right back at it again. What exactly is it that you want from me, Jane? Because I'm not going to keep playing this game with you."

He blinked innocently. "I just want to get to know you. You seem like an interesting person and—"

I cut him off. "If you're going to lie to my face like this, Jane, then I'm more than willing to cut off all ties with you _and_ the CBI. So you better be careful about what you're going to say next. What is it that you _want_ from me?"

He paused, hesitating, before his smile disappeared and he reached into his pocket; all seriousness. "I want to know what it was about this photo that upset you the other night."

He pulled out the picture of the barn and I winced, turning away.

"I'm sorry, Jane, but I can't answer that."

He grabbed my shoulder, making me stiffen. "And why not?"

I remained stubbornly silent, but he kept pushing.

"Why not, Dani? Why can't you tell me? Is it because of your job? Is it because what you said the other night about secrets? Because it seems to me like you know more about my secrets than I do about yours and I just want—"

"Enough!" I shouted, ignoring the stray looks of passerbys. "Enough, okay?! I'm sorry for what I said, but you asked me to! You kept pressuring me to tell you what I thought, so I did! A-And if this is some sort of revenge for that, then fine, but leave me out of this mess! Everyone has things they want to keep hidden and I'm sorry I told you about yours, but leave mine alone! Because the last thing I need is a reminder of my own damn mistakes!"

"Dani! Dani, wait! I just want to talk!" He called out as I got into the van.

"Yeah, well I don't." I snipped, struggling to get the keys into the ignition with how badly my hands were shaking.

Jane was adamant though, and clung to the door via the open window. "Please, Dani. I'm trying to catch this guy and anything you know could help!"

I hesitated, but then remembered how I ended up in that mess to begin with.

 _The blood on the wall, dripping, fresh, in the shape of a smiling face. The mangled body of a young man stabbed to death with his throat slit; blood leaking onto the bed and the floors. And a note crumpled in his hand._

 _You did this to yourself._

 _Maybe next time you'll mind your own business,_

 _And stay out of mine._

I shook my head, starting up the van as I felt fear clog my throat. "I-I'm sorry Jane, but I won't make the same mistake again. Goodbye."

"No, Dani! Dani, please!"

I started to back up, ignoring how he scrambled to hang on and then chased after the van as I drove off; only to pull into a parking lot not too far away and begin to sob into the steering wheel at the remembrance of my deceased husband, who'd been killed by Red John.


	3. Chapter 3

" _Dani, I think you need a break." My boss said as I looked up at him tiredly, eyes rimmed with dark rings from the lack of sleep I'd been getting recently._

 _I turned back to the paperwork for the latest case I'd finished. "I'm fine."_

" _No, you're not. I'm not thick. Ever since you've returned from that case with the CBI you've been off. And I know how you get, so I'm not going to tell you to stop working, but I think you need to get a more relaxed job for a bit."_

 _I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "What are you offering?"_

 _He smiled, passing me a slip of paper from his pocket. "This. A friend of mine from the Northern California State University Museum has some bones he'd like you to look at."_

" _And by me, you mean you." I grumbled, earning a smile from him. "This is just you pushing off a job on me."_

" _More or less. I've got that big case I'm working on and I don't have the time. You need a break from the usual crime cases, so why not hand it over to you."_

 _I sighed, lying back in the chair lazily. "Fine, alright? I check out their bones."_

" _Thank you." He smiled, heading for the door, only to pause and turn back. "And they're primate bones."_

 _I groaned loudly in complaint and dropped my head onto the desk with a loud 'thunk'. "I_ hate _monkeys."_

* * *

I yawned, heading out to the car as I walked away from the University Museum after a long day of putting together a bonobo skeleton and the beginnings of a squirrel monkey as well. I reached into my pocket to get out my keys, only to scowl and start heading back towards the museum. _I_ would _leave my keys._ I slipped out my ID card and made my way back through the museum towards the lab again, only to hear a scream from inside. Feeling panic rush through my system, I bolted into the lab and rounded the corners to where I'd heard the scream, only to run into one of the young students who sometimes helped out here.

"Greg? Greg, what's wrong? What's going on?" I asked him, trying to get him to focus and he turned to me, voice tight.

"I-I found a body. W-With the bugs."

"Okay. O-Okay. Sit down, I'll call the police."

He nodded and did as I said, sitting down to calm himself as I called to report a crime. The police showed up not much later and I gave my statement and heading over to greet the dean; who I'd called after the police.

"I really am sorry about this." I muttered, but he shook his head.

"No, no. It's not your fault. And I've already spoken to your senior. He's given permission for you to examine the body after the coroner, but only if there's another present to confirm what you find."

I nodded, pulling a shaky hand through my hair. "Y-Yeah. I could technically change evidence, though I'm not employed here and worked in another department on the other side of the building. If there's a second opinion, then no one will try to counter what I find by saying that I could have been involved or partial to one person or another."

"It's not as though you've been here long either." He said in agreement. "A few days is hardly time to make friends, much less with your personality."

I gave him a bland look. "Thanks."

He chuckled, slapping a hand to my back and making me stumble a bit with a frown. "I have my faith in you, Dani. Especially if Jacob has such a high opinion of you. All of us have things that make us uncomfortable. You're just a more… eccentric person who needs time for people to break past that tough outer shell of yours."

I raised a brow as we headed up to his office for a moment. "Are you calling me a turtle?"

He smirked. "More like a, uh… porcupine. Looks very nice, but has an armor that can hurt others if they get too close."

"Funny." I grumbled. "I see how you and my boss get along."

* * *

Lisbon entered the museum that she'd been called to during her poker game and Jane smiled knowingly at her when she walked in.

"There you are."

"I should come by sometime when there's not a corpse here to meet us." He quipped as he followed after her. "Are you playing poker again, Lisbon? It's getting the better of you. Losing money?"

"Losing skin's more like it." She grumbled in complaint. "Bertram's been in a bad mood."

She turned to the man heading her way and was stunned to see Dani following behind him in a white lab coat. The moment the two made eye contact with her, she groaned.

"Oh, I can't catch a break, can I?"

"Dani? What are you doing here?" Lisbon asked as the other man looked between the trio in surprise.

"You know them, Dani?"

The woman nodded. "I worked a case with them a few weeks ago. And I'm here because my boss thought I needed a break from the usual crime work and sent me here because a friend asked if I could help put some skeletons together. It's just my luck that I forgot my keys and had to rush in and call the cops when one of the students found a body and wasn't sure what to do."

"Well, um… I'm Agent Lisbon with the CBI." Lisbon greeted the man, shaking his hand.

"Christos Papadakis." He responded with a heavy accent. "I am dean of the university's Natural Science Department, so... the museum is my responsibility. Please follow us."

The group started to make its way through the museum, though Dani made it a point to ignore Jane, and _he_ made it a point to walk right beside her.

"I believe your team is the one who investigated the death of Professor Montero." Christos said, smiling a bit.

"Yeah, we were."

"We have a bit of a walk. The museum labs are in the east wing of the museum." Christos informed and Lisbon glanced over at Dani.

"What can you tell us about the victim?"

Dani shrugged. "Dunno. I haven't seen them yet. And because I've been working here the past few days, I won't be allowed to examine the body until after the coroner. And even then, not unless I have another professional with me to confirm I'm not lying about evidence. Which is ridiculous, but I know how the jury would see it otherwise."

The dean spoke up then. "We think it is Linda Parfrey."

"You think it's her?" Lisbon asked, giving Dani another look, but she shook her head; tucking her hands into her pockets.

"Don't know her. The only ones I know are the dean and Greg; the student who found the body. And even then, I just know their names."

"Yes." Christos nodded. "While Dani is great help, she's very… quiet. Hard to approach, for the other students. Greg only knew her through the work she had to do. He was assigned to show her around. Linda has been missing for some time though, and… well, you'll see."

The group entered the lab where a dead, half-destroyed tree shrew laid on the table before a young man.

"This is the student who found Linda." The dean said, gesturing to the kid. "Tell them your name."

"Uh, Greg. Uh, Gregory Lewis. I found her around midnight and then Professor Michaels rushed in a-and called you guys."

"Tell me what happened." Lisbon pressed, looking for specifics and Greg sighed.

"Well, by sheer luck, I-I happened upon a very nice tree shrew. Um, I've never examined one before, and I-I brought it in to strip the flesh off. You know, to keep the skeleton."

"How do you do that? With chemicals?"

Dani shook her head. "Not here, no. Too expensive for students to be playing around with and the chemicals need to be precisely mixed, so having students trying to do it without the proper experience is just asking for things to be destroyed."

Greg cringed at her bluntness, but nodded, gesturing behind him. "W-We put them in these tanks."

Lisbon frowned. "How does that strip them of their flesh?"

Greg led the way into the back room as Jane piped in cheerfully.

"Flesh-eating bugs."

Lisbon scoffed. "Flesh-eating bugs. Right."

"Right." Greg said, lifting the lid and revealing the half eaten body covered in bugs of various types. "That's when I found Linda."

Lisbon made a disgusted sound and after another second of looking at the bugs, she toppled backwards, into Dani's awaiting arms.

"Oof, saw this coming. Could one of you guys grab me a chair before I drop her?"

Jane hurriedly did so and Dani set her into the chair, grabbing a leaflet nearby and waving it at her face to try and rouse her.

"Honestly." She grumbled. "You'd think people would have a bit more backbone."

Jane snorted and she gave him a dirty look before shoving the leaflet into his hands to continue fanning Lisbon as she looked over what she could see of the body.

"See anything interesting?" Jane asked and she glanced at him briefly before turning her gaze back to the body.

"Not much _too_ see. There's still a decent amount of flesh still on the bones, so a coroner will have to look at them first before I need the go ahead from the family to strip the body down to the bare bones and get a better idea. Though it _is_ female, judging by what I can see of the skull. And she's wearing a ring, which might help identify her."

"I'll, uh…" Lisbon cleared her throat, having awoken and turning away from the bug filled casket. "I-I'll get Rigsby on it."

"Hm." Dani hummed, turning away and heading for the door. "If that's it then, I'm heading to my hotel. Call me if you need me."

"Now hold on a second. You know the people here better than we do. Why don't you stay and help?"

She frowned at him, glaring, really. "I've been here three _days_. I don't know anyone here other than Christos and Greg. Both of which I only know by name. So, no. I don't think I will."

She stormed off and Jane gave Lisbon a brief look before dashing after the woman. Once he caught up, she groaned.

"Leave me alone, Jane."

"I'm sorry, Dani. I shouldn't have pried and I understand that now. Please, give me another chance."

"You know, I would." She said, but quickly shot him down. "Except I've given you two chances already and you've ruined both. I don't trust you enough to give you a third. You're stubborn and always get what you want, and my secrets aren't going to be another added to that list."

"Oh, Dani. Dani, please. Can't we just talk about this?"

"No." She said bluntly, leaving the museum and heading to her hotel room while Jane watched her go with a cringe at how big of a mistake he'd made this time around.

* * *

I sneezed loudly, turning away from the skeleton I'd been working on with a groan. I hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before and taking a vigorous job in the middle of the night hadn't been the best idea. I sniffed, shifting my attention back to the model I was putting together in front of me, only to hear the door open. Upon catching sight of Jane, I scowled and looked away.

"Get out." I snapped harshly, tired of his advances.

"No." He said back, bluntly and making me give him a look.

 _A power play? He assumes I can't just leave my work because I'm stubborn and won't give in to him, so he won't leave. Makes him in charge._ I mentally scoffed. _Yeah right._

"Fine. Don't leave." I answered, pulling out my earbuds and putting them in, blasting my punk music to ignore him as I worked.

I saw his scowl from the corner of my eye and watched him approach and prepare to yank out my earbuds, should I haven't of spoken.

"Touch my earbuds, and I'll break your finger and probably your wrist."

He hesitated, but risked it and the moment he reached out again, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it as I got up; holding it in a painful grip behind his back as I carefully set down what I'd been working on and pulling out the earbuds myself.

"It's a mistake to think I wouldn't do what I said I would, Jane." I said coldly, him cringing in pain in my grip.

"I-I know what you're doing." He said, making me raise a brow. "You're intimidating me to make me leave. But you don't really want that."

"I'm _pretty_ sure I do." I responded, frowning at him.

"No, you don't. You _need_ someone. Desperately. Anyone to talk to, to be there for you. I-I get it. I understand."

I scowled at that, feeling angry. "You don't understand anything about me. I don't care how clever you are, Jane, but _no one_ can understand what I'm dealing with. And I don't _need_ anyone."

"Yes, you do." He insisted. "You're lonely and scared. You use your strength and rough outer appearance to keep people away because you don't want people prying, but you _do_ want that. You want people to accept you and be there for you when you're feeling upset. A-And I'm willing to be that for you! I'm willing to be your friend!"

I shoved him away, releasing him as he cradled his aching arm and I glared heatedly at him.

"You don't want me as a friend. You want me to fix this stupid problem of yours. I'm a fun puzzle for you to analyze and take apart, only to haphazardly throw me back together again the moment you have what you need to catch the person who hurt you. You're a selfish human being who's only acting for the sake of his revenge, and I want no part of it!"

"Don't you want to find who killed those two men?" He said and I felt my blood run cold.

 _His body laid across the sheets, wrists bound with white zip ties and gagged with duct tape. His throat slit so deep you could see the white of his spine. His blood leaking through to the mattress and dripping off the end of the bed and onto the grey carpeted floor. His blue eyes now a cold lifeless grey. His face pale and etched with pain._

" _Kristopher Troi Michaels… deceased."_

"N-No." I stuttered out, taking a step back. "No, I-I don't…"

"Don't you want to make sure he pays for what he did?" Jane pushed, stepping forward.

 _You did this to yourself._

"N-No, I can't. I-I won't…"

"Yes, you can. You can help me catch him."

 _Maybe next time you'll mind your own business,_

"Y-You don't understand. You d-don't get it."

"Yes, I do. More than you realize. Which is why I can help you, but you need to help me."

 _And stay out of mine._

"N-N-No. No, no, no, no." I gasped out, my throat feeling like someone had their hands wrapped around it and were slowly squeezing. "I-I can't. I can't."

I stumbled, having tripped over something and when I saw Jane moving towards me, I went into a full on panic. I grabbed his arm and spun him around; throwing him to the ground before bolting out the door. I could feel eyes on me, slowly suffocating me as I ran out of the lab and through the museum. My heart pounded violently against my rib cage and dark spots started to appear in the edges of my vision as I wheezed and dashed outside. I looked around in a panic, searching for somewhere to hide, because _he_ was right behind me. I could feel _him_ catching up. _His_ heated gaze on the back of my neck sending chills up my spine. _H-He's mad. He's angry. H-He's going to kill me. I-I didn't listen to his warning. H-He's going to kill me. I need to run. I-I need to hide. Red John's going to find me._

A hand grabbed my arm and my breath hitched as someone pulled me back into the museum and pinned me to the wall. I struggled for a bit, vision growing darker as I struggled to breathe through the hand over my nose and mouth, before a calm voice spoke through the haze of panic in my mind.

"Dani. Dani, calm down. Breathe in."

I did shakily, as he told me to hold it and I struggled until he told me to let it out. I did this a few more times to his command and my vision cleared slightly to reveal a concerned Jane standing there. Tears welled up in my eyes as everything overwhelmed me and Jane pulled me into a hug; allowing me to sob and cling to him like a child, despite how uncomfortable he was with the whole thing.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I cried.

* * *

"Better?" Jane asked Dani, who sat in a chair in a small office that was being lent out to her while she was working at the museum.

The woman nodded silently, staring down at the tea in her cup blankly.

"I'm… sorry, for causing you to panic like that." He apologized. "If I had known—"

She shook her head. "You knew. You just wanted to see my breaking point."

He winced at the accusation. "That's… partially true, but I apologize for it all the same."

She went quiet for a minute or so before speaking again. "I can't help you."

Jane hesitated. "Can I ask why not?"

Her blue eyes locked onto his, carrying a sadness and a fear not unknown to him.

"I'm surprised you haven't looked me up." Her gaze turned back down to her cup. "Thought you would have done it after you saw my reaction to that photo."

"I wanted to hear it from you." He said softly, searching her for any poor reaction to his words. "I want you to trust me enough to tell me yourself without my having to dig through the paperwork on your past."

She scoffed slightly, making him relax a little as her regular personality started to show again. "And how is pestering me constantly growing any trust?" She looked back up at him with a small frown. "I was trying my best to get to know you for you. Why did you have to ruin that for the both of us?"

Jane looked down guiltily, remembering when he'd forced her to say what she'd discovered about him.

"Because I felt that I knew more about you than you did and I wanted us to be on equal footing."

"That's what I'm saying." Dani said, lifting the tea to her lips. "You didn't believe I was capable of figuring you out and tested me. Good intentions or not, how can I trust someone who won't take the time to trust me back?"

"But I _do_ trust you."

"Not enough to believe my word." She countered, setting the cup back down on its saucer and getting up to go to the small mini-fridge in the corner; pulling out a soda and raising it slightly.

"I'm more of a sugar and caffeine person, but you'd know that if you tried to figure it out."

"I know about your allergies." Jane countered and she nodded as she opened the soda.

"Yeah, because you asked and I told you. _Before_ you were trying to dig into my past. Back when you wanted to know the 'me' behind the mask. This is different."

He frowned. "How so?"

"Because. I know you like tea. I know that you enjoy Lisbon's company because she trusts you despite the crazy antics and plans you come up with. I know you enjoy trying to get Chou to smile and watching Rigsby look dumbfounded when you pull out a trick under his nose. And I know you get a kick out of messing with Van Pelt and her beliefs on the real world and the supernatural. You like reading and having a space to call your own, no matter how small, even if it's just a comfy couch that helps you feel at home." She looked up at him. "And I didn't know those things before. Not by just analyzing you. I had to watch your interactions, ask you things, get to know you and your companions. I had to _join_ you to get to know you. You just pester me for the answers you want and when you don't get them, you get frustrated. You don't give me a chance to explain. You don't try to get to know me, you try to get to know the past—the puzzle—that I've tried to bury."

"That's not true." He argued and she sat back, having taken control of the situation easily, despite the previous weakness of her panic attack.

"What do you know about me then?"

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

" _Without_ your detail oriented analyzing. What have you gotten to _know_ about me?"

His mouth closed as he thought about it, taking much longer than he thought before realizing that she was right. He hadn't tried to get to know her other than that one moment in the café where he learned about her allergies.

"I'm… I'm sorry."

Surprisingly, she just shrugged. "It's alright. You didn't know."

He blinked in shock. "What?"

She looked at him, gaze even with his. "You didn't _know_. When was the last time you got to know someone without analyzing them first?"

He hesitated and she went on.

"See? I'm used to it, you're not. Simple as that." She said, drinking from her soda, before pointing at him with the same hand holding the bottle. " _You_ act out to get attention and produce the results that get people to stay with you and keep you around. _I_ have to fight for it. I don't have friends who stick by me, because I've pushed too many buttons. I've stepped on too many toes by analyzing first and getting to know later. And they've abandoned me. Maybe you're just lucky, maybe you planned it out this way, doesn't matter. But I'm not them. I work differently and… you didn't know that. Now you know. Hopefully you've learned from it. And I suppose I have one more chance in me."

She smiled slightly and Jane grinned in response.

"Alright. I think I can work with that."

"Hm. You're going to, or you won't get the results you want." She said cockily, drinking from her soda again. "And I'll even forgive you for the panic attack."

Jane smiled along with her, before leaning in slightly. "You should smile more. You actually have a very nice smile."

She raised a brow. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Jane. Especially not when you say 'actually'."

He chuckled nervously, but she just rolled her eyes as the uncomfortable atmosphere between them slowly evaporated.

* * *

I rolled over with a groan as someone knocked on my hotel room door, and begrudgingly got up upon checking the time and grabbing a dark blue robe to cover the sweats and oversized shirt I was using as pajamas. My head ached and pounded with every step, but I pushed the headache to the back of my mind as I started up the coffee pot in the small kitchen and went to answer the door.

"Oh, stop pounding on the door. I'm _coming_ , dammit." I complained loudly, opening the door to see a grinning Jane standing there with a box of donuts.

I groaned and turned away, leaving the door open for him to come in as I returned to the kitchen in the hopes that some cereal would join the coffee in waking me up along with one of the donuts Jane had brought.

"Not a morning person, I see." Jane commented, following me into the kitchen and dropping the box off on the table.

"Amazing observation." I grumbled, before turning with a frown. "How did you find my hotel room?"

"Oh, wasn't too hard. I asked the dean where you were staying to get into contact with you and then simply played the worried husband attempting to make up with an angry wife who'd run off to a hotel to get away for a while. The receptionist easily let me up."

"Remind me to file a complaint." I drawled half-heartedly as I poured myself some basic bran cereal with dried raisins and nuts, grabbing the mug of hot coffee afterwards and offering some to Jane who politely declined. "Right, you're a tea guy. How do you like it?"

"Milk first. Or, uh… I could make it."

He made to get up, but I took another mug from the cupboard and got the water heated.

"Sit down." I snipped. "You may have stormed in here before I needed to go to work, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a guest. So shut up and let me make you tea."

He nodded and sat back down as I rubbed at my face tiredly waiting for the water to boil.

"Headache?" He questioned and I hummed.

"Yes. An annoyance, nothing more." I complained lightly, taking the pot of water and making the tea; doing as he said and putting the milk in first before tipping the cup and adding the water and tea.

Once I'd mixed it, I passed the cup to him and settled down with my bowl, munching away idly for a moment, though I did catch a surprised look from him.

"You did it perfectly." He muttered, making me lift my gaze for a moment.

"It's tea. And you told me how to make it."

"Yes, well, no one at the CBI can seem to get it right." He mused out loud, sipping contently at his tea as I snatched a donut and dipped it in my cereal briefly before munching on it.

"So why are you here?" I asked rather bluntly. "I have to be at work in half an hour to check on that body and then back at the college to finish up those primate skeletons I was working on. And I've already told you what I know on the case. Little to nothing, remember?"

"Maybe I just wanted to see you. Is that so hard to believe?" Jane questioned and I gave him a blank look.

"Yes." I replied, turning back to my food.

"I'm taking initiative." He answered my question. "I'm getting to know you. You're not a morning person, but enjoy coffee in the morning as opposed to your soda. You dip your donuts in milk if it's available, and you trust me enough to not bother changing out of your pajamas and allowing me easy access into your hotel room." He smiled, looking happy that he'd figured all that out in the span of a few moments.

"And I've learned that you like your tea in a particular fashion and have had people fail enough times making it that you offered to do it yourself instead of risking another possible failure. Not to mention you _are_ a morning person, or you never slept, you don't care for personal boundaries, but you like me enough to attempt to apologize for the rude arrival by bringing what you believe will compensate. Hence the donuts. Though I'm sure you've just realized I'm easily swayed by food, or else you would have brought something else."

His happy smile grew more like a smirk. "Very clever. Why did you choose to work with corpses instead of something more… intellectually driven?" He asked, leaning forward and taking a donut from the box as he eyed me.

"Less people to deal with mostly." I shrugged, taking the final bite of cereal and swirling the spoon though the milk lazily. "But I went to a city college right out of high school with no clue what to do, so I took any classes that interested me. Criminology was fun, anthropology was exciting. I considered being a detective, but the path was long running, dangerous, and less exciting cases and more paperwork. Anthropology was more people talking, yet more paperwork, and the potential to end up having a bad allergy attack due to some foreign food in the middle of somewhere uncivilized. So I mixed the good sides of both jobs together and ended up doing forensic anthropology. No people to talk to often, still lots of paperwork, but enough mystery in everyday cases to keep me occupied. Kind of hard to say no to that."

"Hm. Interesting."

I glanced at him, making to tip my bowl to drink the last dregs of my cereal milk. "Why consulting?"

He was quiet for a moment, reminiscing, so I stayed quiet and waited. "…Didn't start out that way. I was a… carny at first, then something happened and I teamed up with the CBI for personal reasons."

"Hm, the circus then?" I mused, staying away from the more painful side that he wasn't willing to talk about just yet. "How was that? I'm assuming it was more acting and deduction skills than actual sixth sense revelations. Conning rich, gullible people out of money?"

He smiled bitterly. "Mostly, yes. Though I never took more than what I believed they would willingly give. And donated a good portion of that to charities and kept only what helped me live comfortably enough."

"Sounds fun." I hummed, getting up and cleaning my dishes before snagging another donut and heading for the bedroom. "Let me get dressed, then I suppose you can give me a lift to work since we're heading the same way."

He chuckled. "How do you know I drove?"

"Keys in the pocket." I called out behind me as I closed the door and went to change.

One pair of jeans, a white printed shirt, grey hoodie, and black leather jacket later, and I joined Jane back in the hotel living room with a yawn as he waved an arm towards the door.

"After you."

I hummed, accepting the gesture as we headed out and to his car. "Your boss know you're with me?"

"Nah." He waved off, opening the door to a light blue old style car. "It's fine. She might even be pleased you got me to work on time."

I snorted, settling down in the seat and leaning back. "As long as I'm not getting in trouble for letting you in my hotel room first thing in the morning. Last thing I need is rumors going about. 'Forensic anthropologist connected to murder spotted with reknowned television psychic leaving sleazy hotel'. After ending up in court for the murder of my psychiatrist, I'd rather not get that sort of attention again." I said, closing my eyes as Jane spoke.

"Are you doing okay? Have you found another one?"

"Nah. Haven't found a need, really." I said, keeping my eyes closed and avoiding Jane's searching gaze that I could feel on me as he started up the car and pulled out onto the road. "My boss was lucky he found that one in the first place. The other three I'd been sent to sort of… quit?"

Jane chuckled. "You got three psychiatrists to quit?"

"Hey." I complained, peeking an eye open and struggling to hide my smirk. "How was I supposed to know that one of them had a peanut allergy that my offering of coffee started up." I relaxed back in the seat once more. "And the other one was a player, dirt bag who thought he could flirt the answers out of me, so he ended up more 'fired and in court' than quitting himself. And the last one hated me to the point of quitting because she caught me in a rotten mood, poked enough of my buttons to send me off ranting about everything wrong in her life, including the affair she was having with her secretary, yoga instructor, _and_ the maid of her home. All while her husband just so happened to be on the line on speaker phone."

"Ouch." Jane said with a verbal wince.

"Hm, needless to say I don't like psychiatrists. This one cheated. He snuck up with a polite conversation with me at my favorite diner and only afterwards did I find out he was a psychiatrist because as I was leaving he said 'Same time next week'. I'm sure you can imagine my talk with my boss the next day about him sneaking up on me. Wasn't fair."

"Well, when you make three others quit, I can see how he needed to resort to other measures."

"Oh yeah? And where's yours?" I quipped back playfully. "How many did you get fired before your boss gave up, eh?"

He chuckled, but didn't respond so I let the matter drop, slipping into a light sleep as he drove us to the CBI headquarters.

"—ni. Dani, wake up. We're here."

I gasped, sitting up quickly with my heart pounding alongside my aching head, trying to catch my breath as Jane placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Whoa, there. Breathe. Dani, just breathe. It was a nightmare. Nothing more."

 _Lies. That wasn't a nightmare. I-I wish it was. Oh, how I wish it was just that._ A hand grabbed my upper arm and tugged me gently from the car.

"Come on, Dani. Get some air. Just breathe."

It took a moment or two before I was calmed down and I nodded my head to Jane, waving him off.

"Sorry. Go. Just, just go. I-I'll catch up later."

"Are you sure?" He asked, sounding worried, though I could still hear the curiosity mixed in despite his efforts.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine in a moment."

He was reluctant, but headed off and I took in a deep breath before letting it out in a shaky sigh, struggling to rid myself of the bloody memory of my husband's death burnt into my skull.

* * *

I scowled, doing my best to ignore the older man hovering over my shoulder as I worked on the remains of Linda, being careful to look over any scratches and nicks in search of a possible cause of death.

"Do you expect me to believe you always work in this rapid manner?" The man drawled, harassing me for the umpteenth time in the past three hours.

"If you don't like how I work, Mr. Caster, then please, do me the favor of leaving and signing the stupid form that says I did my job without discrepancies." I said tensely and the man scoffed, pushing up his glasses.

"You would think the younger workers had more respect." He quipped and I felt my eye twitch, struggling to not snap at the man designated to watch over my work on this case with the migraine I had.

 _I probably caught something, but the sooner I finish this case, the sooner I can do something else away from this old rat of a man._ I sighed, setting down one of my tools and wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my arm, ignoring the growl of disgust from the man not too far from me, helping himself to the coffee _I'd_ brought down for myself. _If he goes_ anywhere _near my sodas though, I'll kill him._ I returned to work, looking over the vertebrae one by one, pausing when I saw something on the C7 vertebrae. I pulled it aside and looked at it closer under a larger magnifying glass, placing a ruler beside it and checking the depth of the scratch I'd discovered when the old man spoke up again.

"A scratch?" He scoffed again. "It's nothing. Probably from mishandling the bones. I know how reckless you younger types are."

I took a deep breath, stepping back from the bone and turning to glare at the man, feeling my temper threatening to boil over.

"For your information, _Mr. Carter_ , I am not the one who brought the bones over here, nor was I the one to clean them. They were brought as they were in a box filled with flesh eating Dermestid beetles, which we allowed to finish doing their job, before you saw me carefully rearranging the bones on this table. Therefore, this so called _scratch_ was not the cause of 'youthful recklessness' and I would _appreciate_ it if you kept your mouth shut while I'm working or you might very well be the cause of said incident. Now allow me to do my work in _peace_ while you do yours as silently as possible."

He scowled. "I'll report you. You can't talk this way to me."

"You'll find, I very well can, seeing as you're disrupting my work and potentially giving me cause to screw up said work, Mr. Carter. And last I checked, your job is to watch me work and make sure I'm not cutting corners. _Not_ judge how I work. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I might very well have a scratch from a possible murder weapon on the victim's C7 vertebrae." I said, turning away from him before he could attempt to come up with some sort of argument to my speech.

Thankfully he remained silent the rest of the time I worked, though the tense atmosphere in the room was palpable.

* * *

"Bertram's supposed to be this real smooth player, but he loses a couple of hands of poker and he has to bum everybody else out." Lisbon complained, relaxing on her couch as Jane looked over the fake dating profile for Linda.

"Linda wanted a man with a 'super-hot body'." He shook his head with a wrinkle of his nose.

"The fake dating profile, right?"

"Wait, you were saying something?" Jane questioned from over his shoulder.

"Bertram hanging Van Pelt out to dry. He's just mad because he's losing big money at poker."

"Well, some people like to push their pain onto other people, weaker people. And there's always someone weaker. It's just the circle of life." Jane rattled off, brows furrowed as he thought about how Dani acted that morning with a small frown on his face.

"Cheery."

"Bertram doesn't _want_ to win, Lisbon. He _has_ to. It's why he is where he is. Why the idea of losing is just intolerable to him." Jane looked back at the letter, though his mind was still on Dani. "Do you think Dani is more of a Stegosaurus kind of person or Velociraptor?"

Lisbon rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "Why would somebody want to break Linda and her boyfriend up? Romantic rivalry?"

"Eh, possibly." Jane said, reading out loud from the paper before him. "'I'm looking for brains, brawn, the total package'."

"Van Pelt's trying to trace the email, but she hit a dead end. " Lisbon said, glancing at him. "And I thought you and Dani were having a fight. Did something change?"

Now it was Jane's turn to ignore the question. "Well, whoever authored this left their fingerprints all over it. 'No half-steppers. A genuine badass. Feather my nest'." He looked up. "Gather the troops, Lisbon. Dani too."

"Why?"

"It's time to play Bingo." He said, turning to her with a smile. "And anti-social or not, Dani's an excellent judge of character. She could easily help in deducing who might be suspicious out of the pack."

"Uh-huh." Lisbon said, sitting up and giving him a look. "And what changed between you two? Last I saw you were at each other's throats and suddenly you're all buddy-buddy?"

"Oh, nothing much. We talked, cleared somethings up. She wants me to get to know her."

Lisbon looked surprised, standing up to join him. "Oh, is that so? Caught a potential love interest, Jane?"

"Nah." He waved off, tapping his wedding ring. "I'm married and so is she. No romance. Just a… friendly couple of like-minded people, is all."

There was a knock on the door and Jane smirked at the auburn haired woman waiting just outside.

"Speaking of." He opened the door and she poked her head in.

"Hey, uh, I think I might have found something of interest on the bones? Though I don't think it will be much help."

"We'll come down and take a look." Lisbon said and Jane cleared his throat, making her roll her eyes. "And would you mind joining us at the school afterwards? You might be able to help us narrow down our suspect list."

Dani pulled a hand through her tousled hair tired, but nodded. "Yeah, sure. Don't know how much help I can be, but I'll see what I can do."

Jane grinned and they started to head for the elevator, only for him to notice the man hovering over Dani and making her shoulders tense. He frowned, but knew that it was most likely the other anthropologist sent to keep an eye on Dani while she did her job for this case, but the woman was already on edge from this morning and the man obviously wasn't helping with matters. Jane didn't want Dani's hard work to lose credibility, so he was willing to play nice with the man, but that didn't mean he enjoyed seeing the usually stubborn, sarcastic, snippy Dani acting as tense and strung up as she was. So once in the elevator, he made sure to stand between the two, giving the suspicious Dani a bright grin when she glanced his way and relaxed her shoulders a bit unconsciously.

She turned away from him when she sneezed, sniffing a little with a muttered apology, before the elevator doors opened and she led the group into the lab where the bones were. Lisbon got a little pale upon remembering the flesh eating beetles—a few containers of said bugs set off to the side—and Dani waved a hand at the boxes.

"Ignore them. They're here because they were evidence, but they're virtually useless to us. In this case, anyway. They'll be sent back to the museum by tomorrow morning."

There was a scoff from the man that was deemed her shadow and Jane frowned when her shoulders tensed again, but Dani kept her cool and ignored him as she gestured over to a bone she was looking at under a magnifying glass.

" _This,_ on the other hand, is slightly more valuable."

Jane and Lisbon looked down at the bone and Lisbon spoke up.

"Inflicted by the murder weapon?"

"That would be my assumption, though I couldn't say for sure whether it is the blow that killed Linda or not."

The man coughed and Dani grit her teeth.

"Sorry, I meant the victim."

Jane quickly attempted to change the subject, hoping that getting Dani focused on her work would pick up her quickly souring mood.

"And is there any way to tell what sort of weapon it is?"

"Well, the most I could give you is assumptions." Dani replied, pointing a latex-gloved finger at the notch in the bone. "My guess is the attacker was right handed, struck downwards with a long, sharp tipped, needle-like object. Would have been hard to conceal easily, so probably something they grabbed from nearby. Spontaneous then. Spur of the moment caused by rage possibly. The killer would have needed enough force behind the attack to bury it deep into the body and most likely hit the jugular."

The man stepped forward and cleared his throat. "We are not here to make assumptions, Miss Michaels. We are here to state _facts_."

Dani closed her eyes and clenched her fists, but before Jane could stand up for the tense woman, Lisbon snapped at the man.

"And every potential clue could help, sir. Even if it is only theories. So unless you're going to contribute, might I suggest leaving?" Lisbon turned to Jane then, who puffed up proudly. "I think we're done here. Dani, would you mind coming with us?"

Dani let out a breath of near palpable relief as she pulled off her latex gloves and went about removing her white lab coat.

"Sure." She said, catching up to Jane and Lisbon in the elevator and muttering under her breath once the doors shut. "Anything to get away from him. Thank you, Agent Lisbon."

"Please. Lisbon is fine, Dani."

Dani's lips twitched up in a small smile, before she dropped it and turned to Jane. "And why are you trying to drag me into your messes again? I'll have you know that as soon as I was done here, I was supposed to go back to the school and work on my other job."

"Oh, please." Jane drawled, Lisbon looking thoroughly amused by the scene in front of her, of the two bickering. "This will be much more fun than putting together primate skeletons."

"Doubt it." She grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning back in the back seat of the car they'd gotten into. "I rather enjoy putting them together."

"Mm, liar." Jane hummed, buckling up as Lisbon started up the car and drove. "If you enjoyed it, then you would have been more social with the students who also enjoy it, _and_ you wouldn't be treating it as a punishment for whatever it is that caused you to be here in the first place."

She frowned at him in the rear-view mirror. "Who said I was being punished?"

"Ah, you did, technically. You said your boss gave you a break and I doubt that, meaning that you got into some sort of trouble and your boss needed to look as though you were being punished in order to keep the higher-ups from putting pressure on him to potentially fire you."

Dani snorted, closing her eyes and settling back in the seat. "Has anyone ever told you that you look into things just a little bit too much?"

Lisbon smiled at that. "I have. Multiple times."

"Am I wrong?" Jane questioned and Dani hummed.

"Yes, actually. Quite wrong. I really am on a break. Boss said I was working too hard and knew that I don't handle off days very well, so he made a compromise. He doesn't have to see me drag myself into work every day looking like a wreck, and I still get to work, but on something less intense than murder, missing persons, and other such cases for a while. Believe me, my boss isn't so kind as to continue giving me work as punishment. Giving me a day off is bad enough."

"I hear ya." Lisbon muttered in agreement.

"Ah, workaholics unite." Jane smiled, earning a pair of eye rolls from both women. "Was I right about the monkeys though?"

Dani sighed. "Yes, yes. I hate monkeys. And I suppose this was my boss's way of getting back at me for the interns no doubt complaining to him about my attitude. When you have to spend _years_ learning about primates and human evolution, the site of any sort of primate begins to grate on you."

"Ah. Got it." Jane said, pausing before speaking up again. "Stegosaurus or Velociraptors?"

Dani peeked an eye open, but soon closed it again. "Velociraptors. Clever pack hunters who could take down any dinosaur any day, if they tried hard enough."

"Hm, as I thought." Jane chuckled, pointing at Lisbon. " _You_ get the Stegosaurus then."

"Oh, gee, thanks Jane. How thoughtful of you." Lisbon drawled sarcastically.


	4. Chapter 4

"So we have a list of words from the fake dating profile. We talk to the students and compare what they say to the words on the list, and if what they say matches up with the words on the list, then they're the one that wrote the profile?" Rigsby summarized and I frowned in annoyance as Jane and Cho walked beside me.

"So far, so good." Jane chirped, smiling at me as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"But how do we get them to say the right words? What do we ask them about?"

"Try to get their words flowing." Jane explained to him. "Talk to them about their passions."

"Their passions?"

"Animals." I grumbled. "Everyone here is a nerd on their specific animal favorites."

"Even you?" Rigsby asked me and my scowl deepened.

"No. I'm here because my field of expertise has required me to study evolution and _monkeys_. I hate the things. Semi-clever, sure, but messy, temperamental, and noisy."

"Hm, sounds rather familiar." Jane said, making me turn to him with a glare.

"Yeah, well at least I don't throw poop, otherwise you'd be covered in it by now."

Rigsby chuckled and even Cho cracked a small smile at that before Jane waved them off and they headed out. _I_ , on the other hand walked with Jane.

"Thanks, by the way."

"Hm?"

I glanced at him as we walked and looked away. "For getting me out of the lab. Mr. Caster's an ass."

"Well, you seem like the type who doesn't work well with people hovering over your shoulder. And yes, he is an ass."

My lip twitched up in a sort of smile at Jane's curse before I turned my attention back to the matter at hand.

"So we're looking for someone trying to ruin Linda's love-life?"

"Mm, in a way. I doubt they're the killer, but it's still a lead."

"And you said she worked with woodpeckers?"

"Yup."

I frowned in thought. "You suspect it's someone connected to that somehow? I mean, it's obviously someone connected to her workplace, but she wouldn't stray too far from her field. So someone who works with woodpeckers, their prey, or their predator?"

He grinned at me, looking pleased. "I knew you'd be fun to have join us on this excursion. Your deduction skills are quite perceptive."

I gave him a blank look. "Yeah, well, I like my field of work, thank you. And I'm not a fan of guns, so don't expect me to suddenly up and join your little band of cops."

"Ah, guns are overrated." He waved off as we approached on of the advisors and an older student painting syrup on a tree.

"Ah, Mr. Jane." The woman smiled. "We were just discussing you." She spotted me then and held out a hand. "And you must be the forensic anthropologist who was working on the primate skeletons. I meant to drop by and introduce myself earlier. I'm Sonya Kidd."

"Dani Michaels." I replied, shaking her hand as well, though I wish I didn't need to. _Just be polite._

She turned her attention back to Jane then. "Dean Papadakis has told me about your impressive memory. My own memory isn't as good as it used to be. What's your secret?"

Jane made a face, thinking about it for a moment. "It's easy to remember when you never forget."

I didn't care for the dark undertone those words had, making me twist my wedding ring for a moment before I caught myself and stopped. Jane didn't notice, instead occupied by the man painting the tree.

"What'cha doing?"

"Laying bait for moths." The man replied, turning to show us his caramel colored bowl of slop. "They like sweetness, so I use brown bananas and beer."

 _Yum._ I thought sarcastically as Jane mused his thoughts out loud.

"Mm, delicious."

"Paul here, discovered a new species of moth." Sonya said as Paul chuckled. "The California Jade moth. It's on display in our museum. It's rather a big deal."

Paul shuffled a bit at the praise, though I could tell immediately he was very proud of the discovery. _To these students, every discovery is a big deal. You've got to pay off student loans somehow._

"Now there are a million five hundred and one types of insects in the world." Paul smiled, like a peacock preening its feathers.

"Well, that's false modesty." Jane said, making me hold back a chuckle at his bluntness, coughing instead.

"I guess so. It is a big deal. To moth people." Paul gave in, though he looked to Sonya, who pushed the praise once more.

"To _all_ of us."

"Congratulations on your new addition." Jane complimented.

"Thank you."

"It's most impressive." Jane smiled innocently, though I could see the hint of something mischievous going on upstairs in that head of his and allowed him to grab my elbow and lead me away with him.

"You've figured something out. What is it?" I questioned.

"Oh, come now, Dani. You can't let me give you all the answers. Think about what we've just discovered for a minute."

I frowned, but did as he asked, thinking about the new moth discovery and what it could bring to the case.

"Motive?" I said, glancing at him with furrowed brows. "You think the moth discovery is the motive behind Linda's killing? But why—Oh." Realization dawned on me then. "That's the connection. Moths. Woodpeckers eat moths, don't they? So you think—"

"Ah, ah!" Jane said, shutting me up quickly. "Don't go saying anything just yet. We need proof before we can go about taking any sort of action, as miniscule as that proof may be. And perhaps we're wrong. It might very well be our mysterious fake dating profile authoress who killed her in a jealous rage."

I raised a brow at him. "Really? Two people come up with the same idea and you're still insisted on proof? I didn't take you as a proof kind of guy. More of an… act first deal with the consequences later."

"Yes, well… I do, do that, on occasion." He admitted, though I knew it was more than just 'on occasion' with him. "But if we want Lisbon's help, then we need some sort of convincing proof to our theory."

I snorted at that. "In other words, you need her permission before you do something potentially stupid and reckless that could harm one of your careers. I'm guessing _hers_."

"Heh, you caught me." He smiled as we continued to walk the grounds in pleasant company.

* * *

I sneezed, again and again and again, until I finally stopped with a groan. _Damn cold._ Jane had found the fake dating website author and had texted me letting me know it wasn't her, though I questioned how he got my phone number only to remember that I'd given it out to all of the CBI team. I myself, had returned to my work and—since I was behind schedule—I'd stayed up all night finishing the bonobo skeleton as well as a spider monkey. I was half way done with an orangutan before my sneezing fit and rubbed at my aching head, fogged with fever. _I just need to close my eyes for a minute. That's all. Then I can finish my work here, make sure the case with Linda is done, and go home and take an aspirin._ I sighed, moving the skeleton a safe distance away as I folded my arms on the table and rested my head, easily slipping into a light sleep.

" _Dani, you're working too hard again." Kristopher said softly, brushing a hand over my sweaty forehead gently._

"Mm fine." I grumbled, pushing his hand away lazily as his blue eyes narrowed disapprovingly.

" _No, you're not Dani. You're sick. You should be resting, not working."_

"You complain too much. Go 'way Kris." I grumbled, peering through eyes half-lidded in annoyance at my husband interrupting my nap.

"Dani?"

I realized then, that the eyes peering back at me weren't the icy, grey-blue of my husband's, but the ocean blue of Jane's. I bolted upright in my chair, vision swirling dangerously and making me groan and bring a hand to my pounding head as Jane put a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"Whoa there. Take it easy. You have a pretty high fever. You should be _home_ , not here." He said, lightly scolding me. "Do you have someone I can call? To come get you?"

I shook my head slowly. "No. No, I'll just… I'll be fine. Just give me a minute a-and then I'll head home."

"Absolutely not. I can't let you drive like this!" He argued. "What about this Kris person? He's your husband, yeah? I'll just call him and—"

"No." I said with a wince, having sounded a bit harsher than I wanted. "I-I'll be fine, really."

I stood up, but immediately felt light-headed and nauseous, crumpling slightly with Jane helping to keep me standing.

"And this just shows you're not. Forget it. I'll take you home."

I winced at him saying 'home', knowing he meant the hotel, but unable to keep the image of walking up those stairs to find Kris's corpse lying on the bed from my mind. I couldn't argue much against Jane though. He'd quickly led me out of the building and to the black van we'd come in, helping me into the back seat and buckling me in.

"Stay here. I'm going to get Lisbon and then we can go, okay?" He said, leaving me in the van as I closed my eyes and drifted in and out of sleep.

* * *

Lisbon was rather surprised to say the least, when Jane approached her and demanded that she hurry to take Dani to her hotel room. Upon his explaining that the woman was too sick to drive, she listened and hurried with him to the van. He _had_ , after all, helped them catch the killer and Lisbon was rather fond of the woman who'd joined them recently. So for her to get into the van and see said woman pale as a ghost and half-conscious in the back seat, made her rather worried.

"Where are we going?" She asked Jane, who'd climbed in beside Dani instead of the passenger side.

"To her hotel."

"You're kidding. Shouldn't we be taking her home? What about her husband?"

Jane shook his head and Lisbon sighed, begrudgingly doing as he said and driving to the woman's hotel. There was more to this, she knew. She hadn't exactly read the woman's entire file when they'd assumed her to be a suspect for that Red John case. Not once she'd discovered that Dani worked on their side of the law most days. And—like with Jane—she didn't see the need to, now that she'd gotten to know her better. She would tell her when she wanted to and until then, Lisbon wouldn't pry. The same could not be said for Jane though. The man was curious enough, without Dani possibly having something to do with Red John. Which was why Lisbon was rather surprised at how… caring he was being towards Dani by not pressing her for answers. Or, well, not as much as he usually would. She was still pretty sure they'd fought about his questions for Dani earlier, making her curious as to what made them fix things between them instead of fighting more. When she glanced in the rear-view mirror though, she couldn't help the small smile at seeing Dani sleeping on Jane's shoulder restlessly and him looking down at her in concern. _The two lovebirds._

* * *

Jane sighed softly, wiping Dani's face and neck as the woman breathed heavily with furrowed brows while she slept. It had been a few hours since Lisbon had left them, informing Jane that she'd take care of informing Dani's boss about her condition, and the woman before him only seemed to toss and turn due to night terrors; probably made worse by her sickly state. She was muttering in her sleep too. Mentioning this 'Kris' person again—who he assumed was her husband—as well as apologies and the occasional annoyed murmur of his own name, which made him smile a little. He considered heading to his own home as night began to fall, but winced at knowing what would await him there and instead settled in the chair he'd brought in from the other room in preparation for a long night.

He occupied himself easily enough. Dani had brought a number of books with her and he read through those, getting a better idea of the woman he was taking care of. _Passionate, closet romantic, though not the horribly cheesy kind. Has a soft spot for a good mystery novel and enjoys puzzles and her work. Reading as well, if the number of novels she brought with her is any clue._ Jane would occasionally wipe her brow and replace the bowl of cold water, getting himself some tea too, and sitting Dani up before helping her with her own glass of water before letting her lie down again. And just as the dawn of the next morning approached, he too, slipped to sleep, only to be woken up not much later when Dani sat herself up in a daze.

"Where…" She muttered, a hand on her head and still not looking too good, though better than the previous night.

"Ah, sorry. I brought you to your hotel room." Jane replied, yawning and getting up with a stretch before lightly pressing Dani back down.

"Kris?"

Jane grimaced. "Ah, no. Wrong again. Though you must really love your husband if you keep mistaking me for him."

Dani groaned, realizing her mistake as she draped an arm over her eyes tiredly. "Jane… what are you doing here? You should be at work."

"Nah, who needs work?" He waved off, making sure Dani had the blankets tugged back up around her shoulders. "And Lisbon gave me the day off to keep an eye on you. She was rather convinced you'd just get up and head to work yourself."

"Ugh, I didn't finish the orangutan." Dani murmured, starting to get up again, but Jane pushed her firmly back onto the mattress.

"No, Dani. You're still very sick. Lisbon already called the university dean and your boss. Everything's taken care of, so just rest." Jane insisted and the woman seemed to give in, letting out a long breath and going quiet.

Jane thought she'd fallen back asleep for a moment or two, but she spoke softly.

"You both have… blue eyes." She said, peaking Jane's interest.

"Your husband and I?"

She nodded with a soft sigh, rolling onto her side to face him, but keeping her eyes closed. "His were this… icy grey-blue. Yours are more of an ocean blue, but… you both have that silly grin. Like a couple of kids… You remind me of him so much…"

Jane hesitated, but finally got the courage to ask. "What happened to him?"

Her face saddened, only half awake at this point, but still conscious enough to be upset. "He… He's gone and… it's all my fault."

Jane wanted to say something, tell her it wasn't true or try to clarify what she meant by 'he's gone', but he didn't have it in him to interrogate her while she was sick and not knowing what she was telling him. That, and she never asked him about much concerning himself and he owed it to her, to be patient enough to hear it from her when she would be conscious enough to know what she was saying and who to. It was the same with her file. He wanted to hear it from her, have her trust him enough to say it face-to-face. And getting it any other way just wouldn't be right to him, so he would wait… just not too long.

* * *

"What do you think about psychics?"

I blinked, looking up from the spoon of chicken soup halfway to my lips. "We talking the cheap-o dress like gypsies and read your palm kind? Or the 'I can speak with spirits' kind?"

Jane hummed. "Hm, both."

I ate the spoonful and set the utensil back down in the bowl. "Don't care for them much. Charlatans, magicians, tricksters." I chuckled, smiling at him a bit. "Sounds a lot like you."

He grimaced and my smile fell.

"What? What's with that face?"

He plastered another grin on, brushing the sudden unease aside. "Nothing. I agree. There's no such things as psychics."

"Yeah, not what I'm asking." I said with a frown. "You made a face."

"No, I didn't."

My scowl deepened as I thought it over. _It wasn't the mocking of psychics, it was… when I mentioned him._

" _You_ were a psychic?"

"Now, I didn't say that." He laughed, but I went silent and glared, crossing my arms over my chest and waiting. "Yes, alright, fine. I used to be a psychic. The, uh, spiritualist kind."

I shrugged, returning to my soup. "Wasn't so hard, was it?"

"That's it?" He questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah. You obviously don't want to talk much about it, so I won't press the issue."

"Oh, come now. Ask away! You must be curious."

"Alright." I gave in, standing and putting my dishes in the sink. "You were good, I assume. Ever do TV work?"

He hesitated just slightly enough for me to know that I'd hit a rough spot, but before I could apologize for it, he answered.

"A little bit, yes."

"Got paid a lot too then, I'm guessing. How much?" I teased, attempting to steer the conversation away from the sore subject.

"Nah, you don't want to know that. Though I will admit there was a number of zeros at the end of my checks." He smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, haha. Rub it in why don't ya." I drawled, plopping back down in the kitchen chair.

"Eh." He shrugged. "Money's not that important."

"You're not going to spout that crap about how you were only trying to make people happy by telling them what they want to hear, are you?" I groaned.

"No, no. I did it because that's what I was good at. Like you and your job." He said, waving a finger at me. "I enjoy solving puzzles and figuring out what people are like and if it makes them happy in the process, then so be it."

I smirked, pointing my finger at him. "Nah, you like it. You enjoy making people happy."

He smiled a bit back. "Who doesn't?"

"Alright, Mr. Twenty questions, since we're sharing stories today, I assume it's my turn?"

He raised a brow, probably wondering why I was so willing to speak up today, but I was in a good mood, so why not?

"What do you think about punk music?" I hummed and he grew more confused.

"Well, it can be enjoyable at times, though it's more of an… acquired taste."

"Hm, not as bad of a response as I expected." I mused, watching him as I slowly began to smirk. "I used to be the lead singer of a band in college."

His mouth dropped open. "No."

I nodded. "Yup. Some guys caught me singing out on the field while preparing to take a nap and asked me to join. We weren't too bad. Made a bit of money at a few gigs."

He smiled pleasantly. "I never would have guessed."

"Alright. Your turn."

"Well, I used to work at a circus. Boy Wonder." He answered and I chuckled.

"Oh, yes. I could see that. Pretending to be a psychic and a magician. Juggling, sleight of hand tricks, palm reading. I bet you were a hit."

"You could say that."

We continued like this for a while, trading silly facts about one another back and forth, before Jane took his leave and told me to get well soon. A few weeks passed after that. I'd get little texts from Jane about cases he was on or the occasional opinion on cause of death and such from photos he'd send me. I was back at work the day after he left and had quite the case load myself, sending him a few things to help me with sometimes too. We were pretty decent friends now, though we both knew the other was hiding more than we knew, but we made no motion of prying anymore. I stayed out of his business with whatever was driving him to revenge and he stayed out of my business about my panic attacks and my husband. He'd gotten close yesterday afternoon when we met up for lunch, but knew his limits. Simply asked what my husband did for a living and when I responded with 'detective' he was polite enough to let that be and dropped the subject.

Today was rather nice though. I'd just finished a case and had gone out for a celebratory drink with my boss and a few others who'd helped solve it, so it was a bit late when I decided to finally turn in for the night. My home was only a few blocks away and I waved off my drunk boss's insistent rambling about not letting a lady go home alone at night, when he was being held up by two others to keep from falling face first into the pavement. I left though, more than capable of defending myself, though not from what happened on the way.

There was no warning. No muffled footsteps, deep breathing, eyes in the dark. Nothing. Just one minute I was fine, and then the next I was on the ground on the verge of unconsciousness with a sharp pain at the back of my head. I groaned, unable to fight my attacker as they grabbed me by the ankles and pulled me into the darkness of a nearby alleyway. The person sat me up and I cracked open my eyes wearily, seeing nothing more than a mask of some sort as they covered my mouth with a gloved hand and held up a wicked knife mere centimeters from my left eye.

"Stay _away_ from Patrick Jane." They growled, voice disguised somehow, though I was more concerned by the blade.

Said blade, slid across my cheek, slicing into my ear and making me let out a muffled cry of pain as my attacker leaned forward; the sharp mint scent of their breath making me grimace.

"I mean it. I _will_ kill you." They pressed, their eyes glanced at the knife and sliding it slowly down the side of my neck, sending a chill up my spine before they were suddenly up and gone.

The breath I'd been holding came out in a shaken stutter, tears stinging the fresh wound on my cheek as I tried to regain control of myself. I don't remember how long I sat there before I attempted to move; vision swirling with every step. I don't even remember when someone stopped me and sat me down on the curb before calling an ambulance. Everything just sort of blurred into a mess of moving shapes and the dull hum echoing in my ears before things finally went dark and I was put under by the nurse at the hospital.


	5. Chapter 5

"I _told_ you. I'm _fine_." I grumbled in annoyance when my boss dropped by for the umpteenth time in a row.

"I just wanted to make sure." He insisted, guilt written on his face as he took in my bandaged head, face, and neck.

"And, as I've said the past twelve times you've come in here, none of this is your fault. So stop acting like it is."

"But if I had just—"

"No, Jackson." I snipped shortly, wincing as the movement made my cheek sting. "You weren't the one who jumped me, so cut it out and let me work, _please_."

He hesitated, but nodded and left, making me sigh and massage my temples as my head ached. It had only been half a dozen hours since I managed to convince the doctors to let me go and I'd rested at a diner nearby before heading to work. Of course, my boss blamed himself once my assistant had panicked and told him I was hurt, making me explain again that he wasn't the one to blame. _If anything, it's my fault for not paying enough attention to my surroundings._ I grimaced and pinched the bridge of my nose, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before putting in my earbuds and starting up some music that _wouldn't_ make my headache worse. Of course midway through the cleaning of a damaged ribcage, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I sighed. Pulling it out though, I hesitated.

The message was from Jane and the words of my attacker rang through my head along with those of the message I'd received before my husband's death. I grit my teeth, before slipping my phone away without looking at the message. Then it buzzed again. I ignored it, only for it to keep going and going before I finally got fed up and answered the phone; him having called this time.

"What?" I snapped.

" _Ooh, somebody's not in a good mood this morning. Too much drinking?_ "

"No. You called and I'm busy." I grumbled, wincing at the harshness of my tone, but swallowing thickly to try and ignore how my voice wanted to tighten and give away the fact that I was _very_ uncomfortable.

" _Course you are. Tea?_ "

"No, Jane. I'm working on a case." I bluffed, but he caught me.

" _Ah, see? Now I_ know _you're lying. You mentioned closing a case the last time we met. I highly doubt you'd have another so soon._ "

"You shouldn't doubt murderers." I muttered, cursing softly when I dropped my tweezers and began the struggle of fishing them out, without disturbing the rest of the mess I was dealing with.

" _Yes, well, let me rephrase that. I doubt_ you _would have another defleshed corpse so soon._ " Jane said, though I could sense that he was getting suspicious. " _Come on, Dani. Join me for tea._ _I know you're not doing anything of major importance._ "

I frowned at that. "Everything I do is of major importance to someone."

" _Yes, but something's going on. And don't deny it, Dani. You know I can tell._ "

I paused, thinking of a response. "…I just… I need some space, Jane. Okay?"

There was silence for a moment before he responded, though he made me even more suspicious than before.

" _Alright. Some other time then._ "

"Sorry." I muttered, before we hung up and I sighed, abandoning the task of bringing back up my tweezers to rub at my aching temples.

* * *

I chose to return to my home that evening once I'd pushed through several grueling hours staring at bones and fighting the intense migraine that even now continued to pound in my skull. I took a cab this time, the thought of walking making my skin crawl for obvious reasons. I got out of the cab and paid the overly expensive price for the ten-minute ride from my work, but I couldn't go in. I stood in the doorway, staring at the wood just above the gold-colored knob as my own shouts echoed in my head from the night I discovered my husband.

" _Kris? Kris?"_

I closed my eyes and sucked in a long breath, trying to push back the noise in my head as the scent of mint washed over my nose.

" _Stay_ away _from Patrick Jane."_

" _I_ will _kill you._ "

I reached for the knob, but my hand froze just above it, and I clenched it tight into a fist. _Just open the door. It's your own house, dammit. Don't let some maniac prevent you from entering your own home._ I stretched my fingers towards the knob once more, only for a voice behind me to make me jump and turn in shock; a hand on the gun in the back of the waistband of my pants.

"You going to just stand there or open the door?" Jane had asked, immediately holding his hands up in surrender upon seeing my stance; though a frown marred his features. "A gun? Really?"

"J-Jane." I breathed out, glancing around and relaxing ever so slightly, still somewhat tense in the worry that we were being watched. "Jane, what are you doing here?"

He lowered his hands and continued to watch and analyze me, making my stomach churn. "You sounded strange on the phone and I figured something was wrong and you might want to talk about it. And judging by the bandages… and the concealed weapon, I'm assuming I was correct in coming here. Dani, what's going on?"

I shook my head, making to open the door again, though I still cringed when I hesitated to grab the knob. "Jane, you need to go."

"Not until I know what happened, Dani. I'm not leaving."

I grimaced, struggling.

"Dani."

"Fine." I bit out, glancing around briefly again before finally opening the door. "Inside."

He nodded and followed me inside. I closed the door behind me and moved quickly into the kitchen, turning on the radio to a moderate level and pulling the gun from my pocket to set it on the counter away from us. Jane simply stood there for a moment before I gestured to the cupboards.

"Tea is in the top far left cupboard. Excuse me for a minute."

He nodded, helping himself as I moved upstairs to get a pill for my headache. I paused briefly once I hit the landing and stared down at the end of the hall for a minute before pulling my eyes away from my old bedroom door and moving to the bathroom to get an aspirin. I then returned downstairs and begrudgingly accepted the cup of tea Jane set before me as I sat at the table in the kitchen. We were completely silent; Jane trying to give me an opportunity to gather my thoughts before I spoke. And when I did, I didn't expect what came out of my mouth.

"My husband is dead, Jane."

He set down his cup, looking stunned and making to say something, but I kept going; the words tumbling out of my mouth like an uncontrollable waterfall.

"H-He was killed and it was my fault."

"Dani, I don't think—"

I pressed a hand to my face. "Jane, please. Just let me talk, because if I stop again, I don't think I can finish."

He closed his mouth and nodded, going silent as I took a deep breath and went on.

"I-I don't want to go into the details."

 _The blood dripped onto the grey carpet as those ice cold dead eyes looked at me; his mouth half opened in a scream despite the gag._

"B-But I was left a note. He was killed because of me. I meddled in something I shouldn't have, and h-he punished me for doing so." I paused, knowing that Jane was curious as to what this piece of my past had to do with my current injuries. "Last night, I was walking home from a bar a few blocks down. Celebrating with my boss and a few others a case we'd just closed. I didn't hear him coming. I-I was on the ground half-conscious before I knew what happened. He… pulled me into an alleyway and sat me up against the wall, threatened me with a knife. Told me…" I swallowed, worried about speaking this part to Jane. "He said he'd kill me if I didn't stay away from you."

I looked up and met his blue eyes with my own shaky ones.

"I'm better than this. I-I wouldn't let it get to me usually, but…" My eyes went down to my wedding ring.

"You're worried that not doing what you were told would end up getting you hurt again." Jane finished for me, making me look up. "You didn't want what happened to your husband, to happen to me."

I dropped my head, gripping my hair with my hands. "I'm sorry. I-I just didn't want any more people to get hurt because of me a-and I couldn't think."

"No, no, no. It's okay, Dani. It's alright." He consoled me, reaching over the table and placing a hand on my shaking one. "Have you told the police about this?"

I nodded. "The hospital made sure I made a statement, but they believe it to be just a mugging."

"Then we'll talk to Lisbon." He pressed, but I shook my head.

"No, Jane. I don't want to drag you guys into this. You guys work homicides, not some lame death threat."

"It's not lame if it hurts you like this, Dani." He argued, a frown on his face. "How bad is it?"

"I, uh… I have a hell of a headache, for one thing." I said, leaning back in the chair and removing my hand from under his; silently missing the warmth it provided. "Other than that, probably a few scars and a bit of blood loss. He got me across the neck and did a decent job swiping across my cheek and nicked my ear. And the doctor said I had a small concussion."

He nodded, thinking that over before looking up from the table. "And you're saying 'he'. Did you get a good look at him?"

I shook my head. "No. Everything was blurry and fogged. He was wearing a mask and his voice was muffled too, so I couldn't be certain if it was male or female. I'm just saying 'he'. They usually are male, statistically."

"And is there anything else you remember? Anything at all?"

I frowned, bringing a hand to my head as I thought. "Just… his breath. There was this distinct minty smell to it. Like a gum or something. Not much help. They were strong enough to pull me into the alleyway and sit me up though. They were wearing… black gloves, jeans, and a grey hoodie and… I think his eyes were brown? I'm not sure. The street light was a bit far off and I only caught a brief glimpse of his eyes. I-I can't think of anything else."

"That's fine, Dani. More than most witnesses and victims would come up with."

"Gee, thanks." I grumbled, grimacing at the taste of my now cold tea. "Ugh, I think I'll stick to my sodas. This stuff is gross when it's cold."

"You should actually get some sleep. You look about ready to topple over." Jane commented and I went quiet, hesitating for just a moment too long. "Dani, what happened when you came home from the hospital last night? You were at work when I called earlier."

"Nothing." I muttered, getting up and cleaning out the cup I'd been using.

"You went to work, didn't you? You haven't sleep since the day before yesterday."

I winced. "I-I just didn't see what the point would be in sleeping for an hour or so and then going to work, is all."

He frowned, getting up and grabbing my arm. "Dani, you _need_ to sleep! You shouldn't have even gone to work today."

I pulled my arm from his grip with a stubborn frown of my own. "And what did you expect me to do? Stay home and risk them coming back? They attacked me a _block_ from here, Jane! I have nobody and you think I would just come here and be a sitting duck? I may not be a cop, but I'm sure as hell not stupid."

Jane sighed softly, dragging a hand through his hair. "No, you're right. Sorry. But you still need to take care of yourself. You've just recovered from that cold too, and not sleeping like this could be dangerous. You wouldn't have enough energy to defend yourself even _if_ they came after you again."

"You try sleeping in my situation." I grumbled under my breath, but he must have heard me or at least knew what I was dealing with.

"Alright then. I'll stay here with you and we'll both head to the CBI and check in with Lisbon in the morning to figure something out."

"Jane—" I attempted to argue, but he wasn't having it and pulled me into the living room.

"And since you can't sleep, we'll just sit here and watch some movies. Where's your DVDs?"

"O-Over there, but Jane—"

He pressed me down onto the couch with a soft smile. "Please, Dani."

I begrudgingly closed my mouth and nodded, sinking into the cushions and allowing him to pull out some movies and settle us both down on the couch with a thick blanket. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I was asleep, not realizing I'd fallen asleep on Jane's shoulder. Nor the fact that he didn't seem to mind and soon relaxed and tipped his head to rest on mine as he slept peacefully as well.

* * *

Jane woke up first, carefully and quietly removing himself from beside Dani and going about making something for her to drink before they headed to the CBI. He considered taking her out to breakfast, but with someone potentially after her life, he decided picking up a box of donuts at a drive thru would be better. The tea was finished before she woke up and Jane went over to nudge her into a semi-conscious state, only to hesitate and cringe at her injuries. His fingers lightly brushed over the bandages on her cheek, feeling this deep anger at someone hurting her to keep her away from him, but let it out in a slow breath before moving his hand down to her shoulder and shaking her awake.

"Dani, we should head out now. I made you some tea and we'll pick up some breakfast on the way. Though you're more than welcome to sleep in the car."

"Mm, I'm up. I'm up." She grumbled, pushing herself up with a cringe, bringing a hand to her head with a pained expression.

"I'll get you some aspirin from your bathroom." Jane offered, heading up the stairs after he handed her the tea. "Do you want me to get you a change of clothes too?" He called out from upstairs.

"Guest bedroom. Door next to the bathroom." She replied and he went to the door, glancing at the bedroom door at the end of the hall in curiosity, but turning away from it.

He knew that if her husband had died in this house—in her bedroom—then he wouldn't exactly be willing to sleep in there either. And he also wouldn't want anyone snooping in there, so he would give her that curtesy. The last thing he needed was to make her angry with him while she was in this state. So he moved to the guest bedroom after getting the aspirin, and searched for some clothing that wouldn't be too difficult to get into and move around in. He didn't know the extent of her injuries, but he didn't want her to struggle to put on a set of skinny jeans versus a decent pair of sweats. He grabbed a first-aid kit on his way down too, knowing she wouldn't exactly want to bring attention to her injuries with the large bandages arrange on her person, and once he was downstairs, he wasn't surprised to see her already removing the bandage wrapped around her head.

Smiling a little to himself, he assisted her and gave her the clothes and aspirin, checking on the injury to the back of her head and making sure it wouldn't need another bandage, and then offering to redress the other wounds, but she shrugged him off and went to the bathroom to change and do that herself. As soon as she returned, she called her boss for the day off and they headed out; him noticing that she made sure to put her gun on her person before they left. Not long after they began driving, he wasn't surprised to see her fast asleep in the passenger seat. She'd had a rough day, after all, and he only hoped that Lisbon and the team might be able to do something about it. One stop at a donut shop later, and he bumped Dani awake upon reaching the CBI headquarters, and they went upstairs where he quickly located Lisbon.

"Lisbon!" He called out, earning a wince from Dani and a smack on the arm for his shout, though he smiled.

Lisbon walked out of her office with a frown. "What, Jane? And you could have just knocked on my office door."

"Nah, that's boring." He drawled amused, but it was then that Lisbon noticed Dani and her eyes widened.

"Geeze, what happened to you?"

"That's actually what we came to talk with you about." Jane interrupted, gesturing to Lisbon's office.

She gave them both a look, but nodded and the trio headed in with Jane shutting the door behind them as Lisbon took a seat at her desk and Dani collapsed in a chair with a sigh.

"So, what's going on?" Lisbon demanded to know and Jane glanced at Dani before explaining.

"Dani was attacked the night before last on the way home from a get-together with her co-workers."

"Muggers?" Lisbon asked, though something told her it wasn't that simple.

Jane shook his head, eyes serious. "They threatened her, saying she had to stay away from me."

Lisbon glanced at Dani, who gazed tiredly back.

"His exact words were something along the lines of 'Stay away from Patrick Jane or I'll kill you'. And I didn't want to drag you guys into it, but Jane insisted."

"For good reason." Lisbon agreed. "If you're being threatened for being around Jane, then it's our responsibility to keep you safe and figure out who's behind it. Did you get a good look at him?"

Dani shook her head. "Like I told Jane, I was only half-conscious. They snuck up behind me and hit me with something, then pulled me into an alleyway, sat me up and threatened me with a knife. I couldn't even tell you if it was a man or not because their voice was muffled and it was dark. They wore a mask of some sort and the most I got was that they had been eating something very minty before attacking me and that their eyes were a dark color; brown possibly."

"Do you know about how tall they were? Their age? Weight and stature? What they were wearing?" Lisbon rattled off, writing down what Dani was saying on a notepad.

"Um, I think they were probably around 5'10" to 6 feet. A little on the tall side. Between 30 and 50. Older, but not elderly or young. Relatively fit to have moved me, but they were wearing a hoodie that hid their figure. Jeans and dark tennis shoes too, I think, and…" Dani paused, brows furrowed.

"You don't have to push yourself, if it's too hard."

Dani shook her head. "No, there's just… I thought it was the flash of a knife, but I think he was wearing a ring on his right hand."

"Could you describe it? Draw it?" Jane asked abruptly, but Dani's eyes closed in a grimace and she brought her hand to her head.

"I-I don't know. Maybe? It's hard to focus with my head like this."

Jane glanced at Lisbon, a twinkle in his eyes that Lisbon immediately recognized.

"No, Jane. Absolutely not."

Dani looked at them both in confusion.

"But it could help her remember! It might even help her remember something she missed!" He pressed and Lisbon frowned.

"No, Jane! She's hurt and who knows what that could do to her in this state!"

"Oh, it's harmless."

"Um, could I get a say in this?" Dani asked and Lisbon glared at Jane as he explained what they were talking about.

"I could hypnotize you, help your mind focus on what happened that night and perhaps it could help you remember things, including what the ring looked like."

Dani hesitated, glancing at Lisbon before turning back to Jane. "If it makes my headache any worse, I'll kill you."

Jane grinned happily, pleased that he'd gotten her to agree and Lisbon begrudgingly allowed them to use one of the interrogation rooms with her supervision. Dani was seated in a chair with a pencil and notepad in front of her and Jane sat across the way, holding up another pencil.

"Now, I want you to focus on this pencil, Dani. Just follow it with your eyes and take all those distractions in your mind and push them aside. Take them all and pack them to the back of your head. The pain, the headache, the memories. Pack it all away in a box and move it back." He said, voice quiet and calm as he watched and waited for Dani's eyes to dull slightly as she did what he'd asked. "Good. Now I want you to imagine a door. A wooden door with a brass knob. And I want you to reach out and open it. Now, you're leaving the bar with your boss after you went out to celebrate the case you'd just closed. What did he say?"

"He said he should walk me home." Dani said quietly, eyes still locked on the pencil.

"And why didn't he?"

"He was too drunk. Jackson and Daniel were having to hold him up just to keep him from face-planting into the pavement."

"So you left. You started walking. It wasn't that far anyway. And you could easily defend yourself, but something happened, didn't it?" He asked, seeing her wince and her lip lift in a pained expression, though she was still under hypnosis. "What happened, Dani?"

"I-I was hit. In the back of the head and I fell to the ground."

"And they grabbed you and pulled you into the alleyway. They sat you up against a wall, and what did you see?" Jane continued.

"I-I don't know. It was blurry and they… they wore a mask." She said, eyes scrunched in pain as she began to turn away from the pencil, but Jane moved it slightly and drew her attention back to it.

"Keep your eyes on the pencil, Dani. What did the mask look like? What was it made out of?"

"It was… It was wrinkled. Like an old man or something. Made out of… plaster? Or a liquid plastic? Something rubbery."

"Good, Dani. And after they threatened you, after the knife came over you, did you see anything? A bracelet or a watch or—"

"A ring."

Jane smiled. "Good, good. And what did it look like?"

"I-I don't…"

"You can do it, Dani. The street light hit it, remember? Lit it up for just a second, but you saw it clearly, didn't you?" He reached over with his free hand and put the spare pencil in hers, leading it to the notepad. "Can you draw it? Any detail you can remember."

Dani hesitated, but soon tore her eyes from the pencil he had been holding and turned her gaze to the notepad where she began drawing. Lisbon and Jane were dead quiet as she drew in surprising detail the ring she'd seen and even the finger and hand it had been on. When she started to draw the knife though, her hand began to shake and her breath shortened, and Jane quickly tapped her shoulder and snapped her out of the trance.

"Dani. Dani, it's alright. You're safe. We're at the CBI, remember?"

Dani blinked, looking at Lisbon and Jane in slight confusion as she tried to get her mind back in order, then she looked down at the notepad where her drawing lay; Jane lightly tugging it from under her hand.

"You did a good job, Dani." He smiled at her. "And you're very good at drawing too. We might be able to get a lead from this."

Lisbon looked at the picture and her eyes widened. "It's a class ring."

"Yup. And there's enough in her drawing to probably figure out where it came from and it gives us the age of her assailant."

Dani stood up suddenly, the chair scraping out from behind her, and before Jane could question what was wrong, she was already heading out the door with a muttered response thrown back over her shoulder.

"I-I'll be right back."

"Dani?" Jane and Lisbon stood up as well, following after her in concern. "Dani!"

* * *

I paced back and forth anxiously outside, running a shaky hand through my hair and struggling to fight off the impending panic attack. My breaths were short, my eyes were wide, and I couldn't stop moving as that drawing of the ring stuck out blindingly bright in my mind; the headache behind it pounding with every frantic beat of my heart. A hand grabbed my arm then, forcing me to a stop.

"Dani, what's going on? What's wrong?" Jane asked with Lisbon looking between us from behind him.

"T-The ring. The ring, i-it's…"

"It's what, Dani?"

I looked at him fearfully, throat tight as I finally got the words out. "I-I-It's my husband's."

"What?" Lisbon exclaimed. "Your husband did this?"

I could barely hear her though, the only sound in my ears now being a high pitched whine and my own breathing as Jane took my elbows and slowly began lowering me to the ground.

"I'll explain in a minute, Lisbon, but we best give Dani a moment or two seeing as she's currently in the middle of a panic attack."

My head was pushed between my knees and it took a good while before I was finally calm enough to realize Lisbon had gone and Jane was still sitting beside me.

"W-Where's Lisbon?" I asked.

"She went off to go look up your husband's connections at his old school and acquire a list of photos of his classmates for you to look at, when you're ready." He explained, giving me a worried look. "I had to tell her about your husband. I hope that's alright."

I nodded. "I-It's fine. I trust Lisbon."

He smiled a bit at that. "She _is_ trustworthy. Though how are you feeling? I have some tea upstairs if you want some. I think we might even have your favorite soda too."

I smiled slightly, allowing him to help me up onto my feet before we headed into the elevator.

"I'm… sorry, Jane. About all of this." I muttered after a moment of silence, but he surprised me by grabbing my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Dani, I am _more_ than happy to help you. With this, with your panic attacks, with anything. And I'm not going to just abandon you because some creep decided he didn't like us being friends."

"…T-Thank you." I mumbled, gripping his hand tightly in return for a second before the elevator doors opened and we let go.

It wasn't long before I re-greeted Lisbon, reassuring her I was alright and sitting on Jane's couch to look over a number of photos with a notepad and pen handy for when I spotted a familiar face; be it a friend of Kris's, or my possible attacker. None of the eyes or faces connected with the hazy attacker's image in my mind, but I _was_ able to narrow down the suspect list to those who associated with my husband and I. I paused though, at one face in particular, which drew Jane's attention to me.

"See someone you like?" He quipped, passing me a soda as I frowned down at the picture of a grinning brown-eyed, scruffy haired man in a yearbook.

I tapped the man's face with my finger. "No, I'm attempting to remember his name."

Jane raised a brow and sat beside me on the couch with his tea. "Isn't it in there?"

I leaned back on the couch, setting the book in my lap as I went about opening my soda. "No, he changed it not long after Kris and I got married. They used to be best friends in high school, but started to have… differences in college. Kris never really explained what it was, just that he'd changed and Kris didn't care for what he turned into. I figured it was the smoking that did it. Kris always had problems with that. Never like it or the smell."

Jane moved closer, checking the name under the picture. "Lawrence Johnson. What'd he think of you?"

"Me?" I questioned, slightly confused.

"Well, you know how some guys can get. If one gets hitched, the other can start to feel left out or jealous. I was just curious if he got along with you."

"I mean, I suppose so." I replied, thinking back to when I'd used to meet up with Kris and his friends and their dates. "He was always cordial. Did the whole nice-guy act, you know? Sort of took over when Kris was off somewhere else for a bit. Like at amusement parks! Kris was really into those rides that drop you from like sixty feet up and I never cared for them, so I'd let him go and would sit it out. Lawrence usually joined me. Had a weak stomach for half the rides anyway, and he'd usually go off and grab me a drink or churro or something. Keep me company until Kris came back."

"Have you been in contact lately?"

I shook my head. "Nah. Like I said, those college years Kris started distancing himself from him. Little things at first, like claiming we had a date when we didn't. But then we moved here and made new friends. The usual drifting away sort of things." I paused though, remembering something. "No, there was one incident. About three months before… before what happened to Kris. Lawrence just sort of showed up out of the blue."

"What for?" Jane questioned curiously.

"Not sure. It was late. I'd gotten back from work earlier that day after pulling an all-nighter the previous evening, so I'd gone to bed when the bell rang. I was only half-conscious at the time, but I heard shouting. Quiet shouting, but it still managed to wake me up and I'd headed down to see Kris there with him. I can't remember what he said the problem was, or if he said anything at all. Just sort of muttered something and sent him away. I figured the man was drunk or something. You don't think…"

"That Lawrence did this?" Jane finished for me. "Don't know. Do you?"

I pulled a hand through my hair, wincing when I accidentally touched a sore spot. "I don't know. Something about him always put me off, but that's no reason to think he did this. Besides, what reason would he have? If it weren't for the class ring, I'd of honestly though it was someone _you_ knew. No offence."

"Oh, none taken. One would think your attacker would have been obsessed with me and attacked you to keep you away from me for that reason. But what if it's the other way around?" He mused and I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"That someone's obsessed with me? But then why threaten to kill me? Why hurt me?"

"You never know with some types." Jane shrugged, sipping at his tea. "They might just be thinking along the lines of 'If I can't have her, nobody can'."

"Pleasant thought." I grumbled, rather exhausted with this whole situation.

"Eh, we'll find him. Whoever it is. And you can stay with one of us until we do."

"Yeah, but I'm going back to work tomorrow. I hope you know that. I can't miss any more days. I've got bills to pay too, you know."

Jane smiled a bit. "I'm sure we can arrange something."

* * *

"Jane, if you keep staring at me while I'm working, I _swear_ I'm going to beat _you_ upside the head." Dani snapped angrily, but Jane just smiled innocently.

"I'm just curious. You've already been to my work."

"Yes, but I didn't hover over you as you worked."

"I'm not hovering."

She closed her eyes with an annoyed sigh. "Three feet away and constantly staring still counts as hovering. And I'm just cleaning bones. There's nothing interesting about it."

"Can I help?"

"No." She went to place a freshly cleaned scapula on the table nearby. "Cleaning or not, my job is very… sensitive as to who's allowed to do certain things. The courts and the families of the deceased would have a fit. And I could get fired, if not sued for contaminated evidence."

Jane sighed. "I can't just continue to do Sudoku puzzles for the next three hours."

"Four." Dani corrected. "And if you're so bored, then leave."

He frowned. "You know I can't do that. You could get attacked again, Dani. We need to take precautions."

She rolled her eyes. "Then ask one of your friends to stay here instead. Cho. Ask him. He's nice and quiet."

He placed a hand on his chest in mock hurt. "You'd rather have _Cho_ join you, than me?"

"Yes." She replied bluntly. "You're the one who wanted to come to work with me and inform the CBI of my little problem. I was content to let the local police handle it."

She jumped though, when she went to set another bone down; Jane leaning on the table with a suspicious look.

"You really expect me to believe that?" He questioned. "Your hands are shaking."

She looked down and sure enough, her hands quivered slightly, making the femur in her hands shake precariously.

"And…" He walked around the table. "…when I showed up, you could barely enter your own house. If we _didn't_ get involved, I have no doubt you would have stayed in a hotel for an unknown amount of time."

"Enough." Dani snapped, setting the bone down before she could possibly damage it. "I hope your wife beats you every time you pull that 'I see all' trick on her." She grumbled, moving back over to where the chemicals were; not seeing how Jane had stiffened at the mention of his wife.

"My wife's dead."

Dani stopped what she was doing at his words, bowing her head before returning to her work. "Oh… Sorry for what I said."

Jane shook his head though, forcing a small smile. "It's alright. I'm sure I've brought your husband up more time than you'd like."

"Hm." She hummed in acknowledgement, before putting her things down. "I'm hungry."

Jane raised a brow as she turned away from her table and took off her gloves and safety goggles.

"You up for something to eat? There's a nice Italian place a few doors down and I've got an hour to kill before the rest of the bones in the other container are finished."

Jane raised a brow. "Dani Michaels, are you asking me out for a date?"

She snorted, holding the door open for him briefly as she walked out and headed to the main door; removing her lab coat and repining her ID tag on her shirt pocket. "Please. I just said I was hungry and perhaps you'd stop staring for a while if your stomach was content. I could hear it from across the room."

Jane smiled, a part of him relieved, but another part equally disappointed. "Alright then. I'll assume you're paying then, since it's not a date."

Dani gave him a raised brow, looking over him once. "Forget your wallet?"

Jane grinned. "How'd you know?"

She didn't bother answering him, just rolled her eyes, only to suddenly pull to a halt.

"Dani?" Jane questioned, slightly worried as she stared off to her left. "Everything okay?"

She blinked, but turned back to him with a smile that he could tell was a bit forced. "Yeah, fine. Just thought I saw someone I recognized is all. Come on."

Jane hesitated, looking back over his shoulder at where she'd been looking, but with the number of people walking around it would be hard to pick out someone. Especially if he didn't know them. So, he begrudgingly pushed the interruption aside and bounced back to Dani's side; missing the figure that flicked their baseball cap up a little higher on their head and narrowed his dark eyes at them. In particularly, gazing long and hard at Dani.


End file.
